Not Another Alicorn!
by Dragon XD
Summary: Take the Worst Episode ever (Mare Do Well), the most Mary Sue making of plotlines (X becomes an alicorn) and throw in the eye rolling of twist (X is really related to Celestia), then add a plot (as in story, NOT THAT OTHER KIND OF PLOT!). Challenge(s) accepted.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: MLP is not mine, and is the product of the great Faust and the evil empire known as Hasbro

Author's Forward: What can I say? The ponies got me. DAMN YOU JOHN DELANCE & LESSON ZERO RE-RUNS! And umm….Twilight for best pony…with Rainbow Dash being the most awesome.

"_Welcome my little pony, I-_"

"_Huh? Wha? I…Prin-*yawn* Celestia_?"

"_Umm Rainbow Dash? Are you al-_"

"_Friendship report! Gotta… *thud* Zzzzzzzzzz._"

"_Well, this is a bit…different than last time_."

Chapter 1: Realizations

Rainbow Dash awoke with a headache and the memories of an odd dream involving Princess Celestia and…space?

She groaned at the sunlight streaming into her cloud home and kept her from drifting back to sleep. Still, as the most awesome pony on town -and arguably the most lazy as well- a little sunlight wasn't going to stop her from trying to make up for lost Zs that were sorely needed thanks to last night's activity.

_ I should have let Spike write that stupid friendship report after all_, she thought before turning away from her window and looking at the reason for her loss of sleep.

After her friends had revealed themselves to be Mare Do Well, Spike had offered a report he wrote on friendship to be sent with Rainbow's name attached. Rainbow Dash had declined and decided to write one herself. Then when she had run out of room on the paper, Dash had run home to add onto it until she had managed to get all her thoughts down on the matter.

And she had a lot of them, more than thirty pages in fact. Front and back.

What had started out as a simple explanation as how a friend shouldn't rub her awesomeness in the faces of others exploded into something so much more when she started to retell the series of events to the princess. It turned into a rant about Twilight and the others doing the exact same thing. That in turn led to Dash explaining how the mistrust and opinions of her friends made her feel before she started questioning just _why_ having five ponies with negative opinions of her had so much more weight than an entire fan club before trying to explain all on paper. After that came a dozen other things that the incident brought to mind, and kept her writing until nearly four in the morning.

Now that she was actually looking at the stacks of paper, Rainbow admitted she might have gone a little overboard with her thoughts and explanations. It had been like when she was been in the zone while practicing her flying techniques, only on…paper. _That must be what its like with Twilight and Rarity._

Just thinking about her friend made her think about their solution to her ego problem. Which made her heart ache. While Dash admitted she had been pretty egotistical, instead of just telling her, Twilight and the others had concocted a huge plan to take away her fans. They didn't think enough of her to just sit down and talk to the mare about something.

_ It still hurts_, Dash told herself. The fact that her friends thought so little of her that they decided to destroy her reputation because they didn't even _think_ she would listen to them…

Rainbow Dash shook her head. _I told myself I wasn't going to dwell on that_, she thought. Dash had to admit the others had a point, and while their methods stunk, she had decided last night could forgive them and move onward to prove to the girls she was better than what they probably saw her as.

_ Or I could just talk to them about it…you know, like I thought they should have done with me_? Rainbow told herself.

But she didn't want them to feel guilty about the whole thing. Like she had written last night, friends don't guilt trip each other for revenge.

_ Stupid egghead zone, _Dash thought to the part of her brain that was coming up with the contradictorily thoughts. _Soon as cider season gets here I'm shutting you up permanently with some of the hard stuff_. If she went and whined to them about her feelings like a baby, it would probably kill her image even more.

Taking herself out of the argument with…herself, Dash looked over to the alarm clock and grit her teeth at what it told her. _Gah! How is THAT the time? I'm gonna be late for weather assignments_!

The top weather pony in Ponyville jumped out of bed and frantically looked around her home for something to carry all the paper to Twilight's house. Without any time for morning grooming, she put on her saddlebags to hold the dissertation of a friendship letter and took off towards the Ponyville Weather Office.

The cloud building wasn't much to look at. A small town meant a small budget, and only enough concrete cloud material to cover a 10x10 area to hold up all the solid objects that she needed to run presentations and hold the paperwork. So Rainbow Dash made do with just a square formation of clouds large enough to hold a briefing room for the weather team positioned above the ground office that gave the weather reports to all the non-flying ponies of the town.

It wasn't anything glamorous as a bigger city like Las Pegasus or Manehattan, but plain also meant it was simple. So Dash didn't have much problems running the thing on top of training for the Wonderbolts and catching a nap every now and then.

Luckily, Dash made it into the cloud building before anypony else did, and slipped into her office. She grabbed the daily schedule that she had made at the start of the week off her desk. She put her saddlebags down in the corner, then did a quick check to make sure everything was in order. By the time she was ready, Dash could pick up some water cooler talk coming from the main room in the building.

She couldn't make out any individual words, but had a pretty good idea what was the topic of conversation.

_ Oh boy this is not going to be pretty_, the weatherpony told herself when she realized what else she would be having to deal with. Considering what happened with the Mare Do Well celebration the other day, Dash had a feeling that a few ponies would have some questions.

_ Just suck it up and take it Dash_, the pegasus told herself. Then, after looking around her office for a moment, she saw the head weatherpony sash that was the 'uniform' of her position and put it on. Since Dash had become a bit of a laughingstock, she would probably need a reminder to the others about whose in charge to get through the meeting without _too_ many jokes.

Then she shook her head. _Oh come on Dash, have some faith in your friends. They probably explained the whole thing to everypony after you went to write that report_, she told herself to crush the growing anxiety in her gut. _That reminds me, I got to deliver that report to Twilight after the briefing_.

With the faith in her friends removing her anxiety, Rainbow Dash took the assignment sheets and headed out to face the proverbial firing squad.

The whole weather team was in attendance. Cloud Kicker and Raindrops were talking to each other over in the far corner. Thunderlane was in his usual spot next to the presentation area and Blossomforth was looking out the building's East window, probably daydreaming like usual. Even Ditzy had managed to make it on time today, despite the fact that Rainbow didn't have any work for her. The gray mare was just an auxiliary weather pony, not an official member of the team.

_ I haven't been able to find her something all week_, Rainbow Dash scolded herself. Thanks to Ditzy's condition and other quirks, Dash couldn't put her on the roster. But despite her problems, the mare had a good heart and always tried her best at whatever she did. So Dash always tried to guide a little extra work her way either in weather or odd jobs around town in order to help her pay the bills.

She closed the door to her office and walked out to the presentation room before stomping her hoof on the ground. "Okay guys front and center, and listen up," Dash said loud enough to be heard across the room. "We've got-"

"Dash I know you've got a weird sense of humor and a thing for pranks, but that's not funny," Thunderlane said with a frown on his face. "Take it off."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Thunderlane's weird, and rather gruff comment. "Excuse me?"

The dark gray pegasus let out a frustrated groan and flew up in Dash's face. He glared at her for a moment while Dash shot him the same look, then reached up and swiped aside her hair. "What the? There's no seam-"

"Hey!" Dash shouted as she knocked the pegasus's hoof away from her face. Thunderlane fell to the floor of the cloud building and landed on his flank with a soft thump while staring up at her with a gaping mouth.

"This past week may have turned me into the town joke, and you can laugh at me all you want while we're off the clock," Dash told the pony who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. The fact that the _first_ thing another pony did was disrespect her caused some of the pent-up frustration Dash had have boil over, and she didn't bother to hide it. "But while we're on the clock, I am still the head weatherpony of this town and **you will respect that position!**"

Dash blinked when she realized Thunderlane was less than a foot from her face and cowering on the floor while looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. The blue pegasus realized she had been shouting and backed away from the terrified pony before she broke eye contact. "Sorry, this past week kind of has me on…edge?"

The confusion in Dash's mind only mounted when she noticed all the other ponies in the room were staring at her in shock, and looked to be halfway to the floor in prostration. "What?"

"Sweet Celestia, she's really-"

"Don't talk that way in front of one of them!" Raindrops told CK before the other pony could finish.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked over to the podium where everyone's individual folders were. "Look, it's the same as yesterday. CK and B are on Everfree border patrol to keep the stray clouds in. Blossom's got apple farm duty and Thunderlane's-"

"Sick!" Thunderlane yelled in a panic.

The interruption made Dash flinch, and she looked over to the pegasus in confusion. "Uh…no you're not."

Thunderlane flinched, and continued on, in a panicked state. "Then I gotta file a repor-I mean! Personal day! I got to take a personal day!" He looked over to Dash, then moved his hoof halfway up to his face before catching himself. Then Thunderlane quickly slammed it back onto the cloud and turned around to run towards the exit. "Gotta go, Derpy can cover for me!"

The whole frantic explanation was over before Dash could react, and Thunderlane was jumping out the door when the rainbow pegasus had finally recovered. "I told you guys not to call her that!" she shouted to the retreating stallion.

"I don't mind it that much anymore Dash," Ditzy/Derpy said happily from the back of the room.

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh and shook her head. "Okay, come up and get your assignments." They might have been the same as the day before, but it didn't mean there wasn't paperwork involved. Each one of them had to sign the papers saying they received their orders.

The guys up top loved their paperwork.

"Um, can't you just floa…never mind," Blossomforth trailed off when Dash gave her an odd look before trotting up behind Cloud Kicker and Raindrops.

After she had given everyone else their assignments, Dash motioned for Ditzy to follow her into the back office so they could fill out the proper forms. It didn't take long to get what was needed and give them to the wandering-eyed mare. She also took off her badge of office, and put the saddle bags back on while Ditzy was looking everything over slowly.

"It's just outlying farm duty," Rainbow assured her. "Even if you put them all together, its not even half as much as the apple orchard. I'll finish up clearing the clouds in town a bit early and come and see if you need help after lunch, okay?"

Ditzy nodded. "Thanks Dash. I should be done in time for my route if its just basic cloud cleanup though."

Once she had gotten everything put away and her bags strapped on tight, Dash looked over to Ditzy with a hesitant expression. "Okay…go ahead an ask me. I know everyone is dying to."

"About the horn? I like it! It's really shinny," Ditzy told her.

Dash blinked in confusion, then looked back at the emergency weather flugal horn that was supposed to warn the town in case of a weather emergency. "Thanks I uh…polished it a few days ago," Dash replied, completely confused by the other mare's sheer randomness.

"I was talking about that Mare Do Well stuff," Dash informed her before looking away from Ditzy. "I'm surprised no ones mentioned it yet."

"Oh that…yeah, I didn't really like her," Ditzy told her with a wave of her hoof as she just blew the question off. "She just shows up, and everypony goes crazy over her in less than five seconds? I just didn't get it. The Doctor said it was because of a…um…something to do with field grass…I think?

"Even Dinky was bugging me to get a costume from Rarity's shop, even when she knows we didn't have the money for it. Then The Doctor snapped her out of it." Ditzy shook herself out of her recollection and looked over to Dash. "Ah don't worry about it too much. The Doctor says everypony will completely forget about her in a few days long as she doesn't come around again. Bye Princess."

Once again thrown off by the other ponies randomness, Dash just waved goodbye to her friend. "Uh…bye?"

With Ditzy gone, Dash took a few moments to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. She locked the door behind her, then stepped out into the air and glided down towards the library at the center of town. After catching a few more weird looks from passersby and more than one disgruntled glare from a pony reading his paper across the street, Dash knocked on the door.

"Spike you there? I got my letter for Princess Celestia," she said.

A few minutes later she heard Twilight and Spike talking. Another minute of waiting, and the dragon opened the door after the muffled words had quieted down. "Oh hey Rain-bow…Dash?" the little dragon asked as he looked the newcomer up and down, then shrugged. "Uh, pretty sure impersonating a princess is treason you know. Ah well, come on in."

Dash frowned at the comment, but followed Spike into the library and kicked the door closed behind her. "Hey Spike, can you send a lot of pages in one breath? I kind of got a doozy of a friendship report here," she told him as she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the several sheet of paper.

All the pages put in front of his face made Spike frown before he looked back up to the blue pony. "Is this a letter, or a dissertation?" The multi-page letter looked more like something Twilight would write than Dash.

"Hey Rainbow, I was just-" Twilight cut herself off halfway into the room from her basement lab. "What the heck are you wearing!?"

Dash blinked and looked over to Twilight in confusion while the irate unicorn glared at her. "Uh…my saddlebags?" she asked before looking back to the twin carrying cases with her cutie mark on the sides.

"Take it off!" Twilight demanded while Dash continued to give her a look that said she was completely lost. "Ugh fine!" Then Twilight's horn began to glow with her magic.

The mild headache that Dash had been experiencing all morning became a full on migraine, and Dash felt something pull her forward. "Twilight! What the buck are you-"

"It's-oh no!" was all the purple unicorn managed to get out before the world went white.

Twilight stumbled as she tried to get her footing on the grass that she found under her hooves after the forced teleport. Behind her, she heard Spike collapse and groan. She didn't blame him, Twilight felt like she was about to lose her lunch too.

_ What the heck just…oh Celestia don't tell me that was a REAL magical aura reaction_, she thought to herself before looking around. Much to her confusion, she found Ponyville several yards behind her. The magical safety measures in her lab had sent her beyond the city limits.

Even from the edge of town, she could see the remains of her tree house and the numerous areas where the rest of it had fallen down after the expulsion of force blew the tree that held the town library to pieces.

"But that means…" Twilight mumbled to herself before she stopped at just _what_ everything that happened just meant.

She had pulled at what she thought was a prop Rainbow Dash was wearing on her forehead, but got a reaction as if Twilight had been messing with another unicorn's source of power directly. In other words: the horn on top of Rainbow Dash's horn was _real_.

Then there was the actual force of the explosion, which was a twofold surprise. Twilight knew whenever magic from one unicorn touched the epicenter for magic of another, the incompatibility always resulted in a mystical blowback that left both of them with a headache and some slight property damage. It happens because of the mixing magic when a tiny portion of the unicorn's mana pool is used to expel the offending magic in a knee-jerk defense reaction.

Added to that was Twilight emergency procedures. Thanks to the experiments Twilight ran in her lab, she had made sure to create dozens of wards and safety measures in case something ever went wrong. If there ever was an adverse magical reaction, several spells would activate to contain, drain, and safely funnel the magic into the sky and away from the town.

As a third precaution, Twilight had laid an emergency escape spell to teleport anyone that was in the building and in danger away from the unfettered blast radius. The range was placed as such just in case all her other failsafe spells didn't work and she needed to get to safety. That spell sent her outside the town's borders.

_ Okay…okay,_ Twilight thought to herself as all the information in her head told her exactly how bad things were. _Somehow Dash…and I can't believe I'm thinking this…Dash actually achieved __**enlightenment **__and became an alicorn. The adverse reaction to my magic touching her horn…oh Celestia, she blew past all my wards and overloaded the magic funnel with just an adverse magic reaction_? _And if my wards really had failed the entire town would have…oh no, Rainbow Dash_!

"Spike stay here," Twilight told her assistant before she teleported over to the wreckage of what had been her home.

A second after her appearance, Carrot Top jumped in front of her and filled Twilight's vision. "Twilight you're okay! But if you're here, then-Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dash blew up your house!"

"WHAT?" Twilight shouted before knocking the crazy mare aside and made her way past some other ponies. _How in Tartarus can they possibly think something like THAT_? Twilight asked herself before she moved pass the crazed carrot farmer.

The disaster zone that had once been the library was…well, a disaster zone. Twilight pushed her way through the small group of ponies that was quickly forming into a crowd to see down inside. The crater that had been caused by Dash's horn had actually pushed the dirt down further than Twilight's lab, and there was nothing left of the tree at all.

In fact, the only thing in the crater was a frantic former pegasus turned alicorn that zipped around the destruction as she went through destroyed bookcases, debris, and an assortment of normal rocks that were sharing the crater with her. All the while leaving a rainbow trail that zigzagged through the devastation.

"TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT WHERE ARE YOU?" Rainbow Dash shouted franticly as she ripped up a bolder nearly twice her size with her bare hooves and tossed it aside to look underneath.

_ Holy cow, I knew alicorn's were physically strong but_… Twilight was unable to finish her thought when she noticed the sheer look of panic on her friend's face. _Buck, friend's mental stability first, scientific observations later_.

"Rainbow Dash I'm right here!" Twilight called out. However, as the pegasus continued her frantic digging through the area that had once been her lab, Twilight doubted her words had been heard.

So, she leapt down into the wreckage, and poked her friend in the flank. Rainbow immediately spun around and Twilight sucked in a breath. The tears collecting on the edge of the blue alicorn's eyes and the panic on her face was like a knife in her own heart.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed before she grabbed her friend in a hug and lifted them both into the air.

"Rainbow…can't…breathe," Twilight gasped while the alicorn crushed her rubs in a bear hug. When the sensation didn't let up, Twilight gathered the last bit of breath in her lungs and shouted. "RAINBOW!"

The pressure disappeared and Dash held her at arms length. "Sorry, I can barely hear you for this stupid ringing in my ears."

Twilight sighed and looked down at the crowd. She could see Applejack had abandoned her stand in the market and Pinkie was also among the ponies looking up at them. She looked around the rest of the town, then pointed with her hoof towards Rarity's boutique. They needed to talk with their friends somewhere private.

"Are you sure you're both okay?" Rarity asked as she waited by her stove for the tea to come to a boil. As soon as it did, she turned to look at the others gathered around her table. Fluttershy hadn't been in town, so the impromptu meeting of the Element Bearers only included Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the newly altered Rainbow Dash.

The alicorn nodded. "Yeah, my ears have stopped ringing."

"And the safety spells in my lab actually teleported me and Spike out before the explosion occurred," Twilight assured her. "I don't even have a headache. Spike did have a bit of warp sickness though. I'll have to try and refine my teleportation runes targeting parameters the next time I set up a lab."

Rainbow moved her attention over to Twilight. "Hey, how come I didn't get teleported out? And what the hay happened down there?"

_ I accidentally set off some of your ethereal energy and if you had been teleported out, the entire town might have been blown away, _Twilight thought to herself while she tried to come up with an explanation that didn't sound like 'I almost made you blow everyone to kingdom come'.

"Okay, if nopony's gonna ask about the elephant in the room, then Ah am," Applejack said before she pointed to her best friend. "WHAT THE HAY IS RAINBOW DOING WITH A HORN ON HER HEAD?"

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. "Duh, waiting for her tea silly." Then she looked down at her table space as a telekinetic field dropped a cup off. "Thanks Rarity."

"Applejack, what're you talking about?" Rainbow asked.

Everyone in the room froze. Twilight blinked. Applejack just sat there slack jawed. Rarity could barely keep her teacups from dropping. Pinkie managed not to scream despite the fact that when it come time to freeze, she had the unfortunate timing of having to stop what the cup of tea was titled to her lips, but before her mouth was opened to accept the drink so that it spilled over and into her lap.

"Say what now?"

"You mean you don't _know_?"

"Haven't you taken a look in a mirror this morning darling?"

"Ow hot! It burns! Towels, icepack, somepony help!"

And so after Pinkie had gotten the attention she needed and Rarity wiped up the liquid on her floor with a towel…

"Here," the fashionista told the alicorn as a full length mirror floated in from her inspiration room and over to Rainbow Dash.

The blue alicorn with the rainbow mane took one look at her new head accessory, and blinked. Then, she reached up and poked it with her hoof. A weird shiver ran all the way down her back to her tail, and she cried out in surprise before falling back out of her chair and flapping her wings to get into the air. "What the hay! Why is there a horn on my head?"

"Oh, Oh I know," Pinkie said as she jumped out of her seat. "Maybe Rainbow Dash is really the secret love-child of Princess Celestia! And the snooty nobles in Canterlot didn't like the princess having a pegasus foal, so she had to ship Dashie off to Cloudsdale to live with a super-special adopted family while she secretly watched Rainbow Dash her whole life, and now that Dashie's horn has finally groan, she's going to make a surprise visit and suddenly announce me and Dashie are actually _sisters_!"

Twilight held up a hoof to stop the pink pony before things could get even more bizarre. "Pinkie, please stop," she begged. "You're not making any sense, and its causing me to get a headache. And how would Celestia being Dash's mother have _anything_ to do with the two of you being sisters?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Cause Dashie's and me had the same dad in that fic, _duh_. Do I need to explain to you where foals come from Twilight?"

"NO!" everypony at the table shouted as the collective thought not to try and examine Pinkie's reasoning as to just _why_ her theory also had her and Dash being sisters.

"Pinkie…Princess Celestia is not my mom," Rainbow Dash told Pinkie Pie in an even tone.

"Then why's your mane all rainbowy huh? Explain that!" Pinkie said as she pointed an accusing hoof at Rainbow Dash.

In response, Rainbow Dash shrugged. "It's a family trait. My dad had a rainbow mane, and my grandma, and great-grandmother. Every firstborn of my whole family has them."

Twilight frowned in confusion. "Just the firstborn? Uh Dash, that's…not normal."

"I wake up with a horn, and you're asking questions about my hair," Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "_That's_ what's not normal."

The statement had the unicorn rolling her eyes. "No, I'm just curious about how this one family trait is passed down from firstborn to firstborn, that's not how genetics is supposed to work! I know what caused the horn," Twilight said before frowning and rubbing her chin. "Although I'm lost on why you don't remember it."

"WHAT?" the other ponies in the room shouted.

Twilight blinked, then repeated her last statement. "I'm just surprised she doesn't remember it."

"Not that!" Applejack yelled. "How in tarnation can you explain Rainbow suddenly sprouting a horn overnight!"

"She got it from Princess Celestia," Twilight told them.

"You mean she really _is _Princess Celestia's secret love-child?" Rarity shrieked. With the information being too much for the white unicorn, she pulled her fainting couch in from another room, and promptly collapsed on it.

Pinkie danced in joy. "I knew it!"

"**I AM NOT PRINCESS CELESTIA'S SECRET LOVE-CHILD**!" Rainbow Dash roared.

Twilight barely had time to grab her tea before she saw Rainbow's mane ignite with her mana to change it into an aurora lightshow while her eyes glowed and the anger induced surge of magic amplified her force to the point where everypony else was knocked onto their flanks. The display of power untwined Twilight's hair and she had to force herself to keep from shaking.

Rarity faired much worse. Although not a magic talent like Twilight, the other unicorn could still detect magic in use when it was around her; and Rainbow had shown the tsunami that was her mana pool to any unicorn who bothered to look. The sight had sent the fashionista cowering behind her tipped over couch like it was cover for an incoming attack.

It also didn't help the pissed off alicorn was actually focusing her attention on the white unicorn.

"**Are you guys even listening to me**?" Dash demanded as her mane and tail blazed behind her. "**My parents were a pair of awesome pegasi from Cloudsdale! NOT CELESTIA**!"

"**But hey, you're all, let's not bother talking to Rainbow Dash about it**!" the alicorn continued as she stormed around the room and looked at the others, causing them to flinch and tip over the table to hide behind. "**Let's make some stupid plan and try to convince her we're right**! **I know! You can dress up in a Celestia costume and tell everyone that she's really Celestia's daughter and rub it in her face when she screws up and gets outshone by the mare in the costume when a building collapses, or a balloon crashes, or a FREAKING DAM BREAKS**!"

Twilight ducked behind the table with the two earth ponies and gulped. _Sweet Celestia, her mane is etherealized, her eyes are glowing…her steps are causing miniature EARTHQUAKES_! _Cadence never did anything like this_, Twilight mentally screamed.

_ But then, Cadence was an older pony who never had to deal with her friends placing a bad luck spell on them while another pony wrapped in enchanting clothes that made everyone admire them did all the heroics_, Twilight's memory reminded her.

"I think Dashie is just a _liiiiitle_ bit angry about the whole Mare Do Well thing," Pinkie reasoned as she braced her back against the table.

"YA THINK?" Applejack shouted before she looked over to the purple unicorn. "Twilight, do somethin!"

Twilight grabbed her hind legs to try and keep them from shaking. Thankfully, opening her mouth to talk kept her teeth from continuing to chatter. "I would, but terror is keeping me from moving or talking above my current volume," she squeaked. "My flight instinct would have already kicked in and teleported me away, but the amount of mana Dash is emitting right now is reeking havoc with the surrounding ethereal void and any attempt at crossing it would probably end with m being burnt to ash by Dash's uncontrolled mana storm."

"Oh for-" Applejack cut herself off then jumped into the sights of what Twilight could only call an angry god. "Dash simmer down! We're sorry about all that, okay? I know we wounded your pride an all-"

"**YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THAT**?" the alicorn raged, forcing Applejack back. "**YOU…I mean, sure it hurt but…you guys…**"

Twilight blinked as the energy in the air around her quieted down as she looked over the table to see Dash was starting to clam down and…cry?

"You guys did all that," she said in her normal voice before while the alicorn's tears continued to run down her cheeks. "But…why didn't you just TALK TO ME?"

"Did you think I wasn't going to listen?" she demanded in a pleading tone as she looked over to Rarity as the unicorn peeked her head out.

The question made Rarity look away. "Well no. But, that's…umm, you see…"

"Twilight did it!" Pinkie explained as she pointed to the unicorn.

The unicorn in question blanched. "Uh, Pinkie-"

"Did what?" Rainbow asked, now somewhat confused.

"Okay look," Applejack cut in. "We were getting kinda fed up with yer ego antics, which _you_ agreed were over the line." The earth pony poked the alicorn to emphasis the point. "And we were going to get together as a group to have you turn it down. But then Twilight came up with this whole harebrained scheme and those magic costumes to put you on the receiving end and shrink yer ego down a bit."

Twilight let out a breath, thankful she didn't tell the others about the bad luck spell she had placed on Rainbow Dash as well. "Don't worry," Twilight assured her. "In a few days without seeing the Mare Do Well costume, everypony will forget she ever even existed and everything else that had to do with her."

"I SAID I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT!" Dash shouted at them before she sat down on the floor and the tears began to flow in earnest. "I…I don't care if everypony in town thinks I'm a loser. You guys…the fact that you guys…is that how you see me? You really didn't think I wasn't going to listen do you? That I didn't care about your feelings? That…that I… Isn't that one of the whole points of _being_ a friend?"

The realization of what Dash was talking about hit Twilight like a hammer. _Dash isn't mad with us because of Mare Do Well…she's upset because we… because __**I**__ thought Mare Do Well was needed in the first place_. "Rainbow…"

"Oh darling of course we know you care about us," Rarity was quick to respond as she rushed over to embrace the alicorn in a hug.

Applejack was quick to join her. "Ah have to admit, Ah might have been a bit angry over the whole photo-op thing," she said before taking off her hat. "Ah shouldn't ta let that get to me and just gone along with Fluttershy's suggestion and talked to you."

"Huh?" Rainbow asked.

"Everypony _did_ just wanted to tell you to knock it off Dashie," Pinkie told her. "We were even going to tell you at a super-secret tone it down party, which wasn't really a party cause then that would have just helped feed your ego, so all I made for it was some chamomile tea so you would relax and listen…better. Opps. Hmmm, guess what's why I went with Twilight's plan after she showed us all those funny numbers. Cause you know, I thought you needed help before you'd listen to us."

The pink pony paused for a minute and took a breath while she steadied herself before looking Rainbow Dash in the eye with a serious expression. "I'm sorry I didn't have faith in our friendship Dash."

A metaphorical arrow pierced Twilight's heart, and she had to steady herself thanks to Pinkie's last sentence. _Was that what I… No_! _I ran the numbers, I showed them the equations. When Rainbow Dash gets on a stubborn streak and competitive…she didn't even listen to me when we had the Running of the Leafs_! _Based on all previous evidence, there is no way Rainbow Dash would have done as we asked and stopped being so egotistical_!

Twilight remembered that Dash had been open to new ideas after the race once it was shown how wrong she was. Dash needed to be set up for failure before she would accept a new viewpoint, so Twilight had made it _impossible_ for her to succeed.

_ We needed to_… _I needed to place a bad luck spell on her so she couldn't…save the balloon pilot…_

_ Or nearly get crushed under construction equipment…_

_ …and…nearly drown…when the dam…Oh sweet Celestia, what have I done_?

Twilight noticed her vision had become blurry, and wiped away her tears before she walked over to Rainbow Dash. "I'm sorry," she told the alicorn before she wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow's neck. "I'm sorry…I'm so…so sorry."

The alicorn returned the hug. "It's okay Twilight."

"No it's not!" she cried as her mind listed everything that happened because of that stupid spell. Twilight had heard what other ponies were saying about the former pegasus behind her back. Rainbow Dash was fast on her way to being the town laughing stock.

"_Rainbow Dash blew up your house_!" Carrot Top's words echoed in her mind.

_ Or the town pariah_, Twilight told herself before she started to focus her magic. She needed to get rid of the bad luck spell before it got any worse.

A hard banging on the door killed Twilight's concentration, and all the ponies broke from the group hug to look at Rarity's kitchen door before a familiar voice reached Twilight's ears. "This is the royal guard! We know you're in there, open up!"

_ Shiny_? Twilight asked herself as the voice was connected to a face. _What the hay is he doing here_?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Revelations

Shining Armor was _not_ having a good morning.

It wasn't thanks that fact that he had been awoken before dawn, that was par for the course when you were a royal guard. It wasn't because he had been put on escort detail to Princess Celestia for a trip to Ponyville, that would have allowed him to see his sister. It wasn't the fact that he had to put on his ceremonial armor, which still fit him pretty well despite putting on a few pounds since he worn it last. It wasn't even the fact that his presence was completely unneeded since the being he was protecting could arguably be called a god that was the cause of his bad morning.

No, it was the fact that halfway to the quaint little burg, Shining Armor had to watch the house his sister lived in **explode**.

Then, Princess Celestia left everyone behind and zoomed off to Ponyville on her own while Shining Armor was left standing in a chariot for an agonizing twenty minute ride. On top of which, when he _did_ land, the place where everyone said Twilight -who thankfully survived the explosion because she wasn't home as according to eyewitnesses- was at the center of a mana storm that either sent every unicorn in town running in terror or pass out in fright. Oh, and _of course_ when he DID arrive at the shop where Twilight was, Princess Celestia had **FORBIDDEN **him from entering the building while something with enough magic to turn everything to dust from Manehattan to Vanhoover was apparently throwing a temper tantrum.

It was only ten agonizing minutes after everything had calmed down that Princess Celestia had finally given him permission to approach the boutique 'in a respectful manner'.

So he walked up to the building all prim and proper, then dropped the act and pounded on the door before issuing demands. "This is the royal guard. We know you're in there, open up!"

* * *

-Inside Rarity's-

Twilight opened the door and moaned in embarrassment when her big brother leaped into the room and after taking a look around, grabbed the purple unicorn and zipped over to the wall before putting her behind him as well as a shield around the both of them. "Princess Rainbow Dash, I'm asking you to please remain calm."

"PRINCESS?" Applejack and Pinkie yelled.

Rarity put her couch back on all fours and got into position. "You're a princess Rainbow?"

"No!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Twilight answered at the same time. "Yes."

"I'm not a princess!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she looked over to Twilight.

"Actually, I think you are now," Twilight cut in after she stepped out from behind Shining Armor. "See, with the horn, wings, and-"

Shining Armor put a hoof over Twilight's mouth. "Don't argue with the princess. If the princess says she's not a princess, then don't call her a princess."

"…Okay…now Ah'm confused," Applejack mumbled.

Pinkie gasped. "I thought you were Applejack. Hey, did anypony know that Applejack had a twin sister? And while we're on the subject of new ponies, who's the pony in the shining armor?"

"Shining Armor," Twilight supplied before her brother looked back at her.

"What?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No, I was telling his your name."

"Yeah, I wanna know the shinning armor pony's name," Pinkie said.

"HIS NAME IS-"

"Captain," a voice all the ponies in the room knew spoke up, making Twilight bite her tongue. "Do you deem it safe for me to come in now?"

"Yes."

As the co-ruler/deity of Equestria made her way into Rarity's kitchen, the owner of the establishment looked at the mess it had become since Rainbow Dash's…event. The mare's face became pale at the fact her goddess was seeing her pride and joy in such a state. "Oh sweet Celestia."

"Yes?" the alicorn asked, at which point Rarity probably noticed her goddess just noticed her abusing Her name in such a way, and dove back onto the couch.

There was a brief moment of silence at the sight, and then…

"Hi Captain, my name's Pinkie Pie!" the pink pony said as she offer her hoof in friendship.

"…how did she get in my shield?" Shining Armor mumbled to his sister.

"Shhh! The amount of impossible problems I can work on in the back of my mind and still function enough to carry on a conversation is only one, and I'm still calculating he odds for the firstborn of every member of Rainbow's family having the exact same hairstyle."

Applejack leaned over to whisper in Rainbow Dash's ear. "Why is Celestia here? You don't suppose you and her really _are_ related, do ya?

"Oh for the love of," Celestia mumbled before she looked around. "His name is Shining Armor. No need to be embarrassed Rarity. The odds are actually one hundred percent Twilight, and yes."

"Awwww, I didn't ask about my horn in time," the blue alicorn moaned while Rarity recovered from her fake fainting spell.

The purple unicorn frowned at Celestia's words. But how could you always…wait…" Twilight's brain processed the last word her teacher had said before she looked over to the white alicorn. "You mean you really ARE Rainbow Dash's mother?"

"Well, down I go again," Rarity mumbled before she fell back onto her couch.

"WHAT?" Celestia exclaimed. "No! I'm…" she sighed and looked around the room. "Can we please get some semblance of order here. And where's Fluttershy?"

"Probably hiding under her bed since Rainbow Dash blew up Twilight's house," Applejack informed the princess.

Rainbow Dash frowned at Applejack. "I didn't do that!"

"Yeah, that one was my fault," Twilight confessed before Celestia's horn lit up to start cleaning everything.

* * *

-And so a few minutes later-

"Okay so, how the hay did I get this thing on my head? Uh, Princess." Rainbow Dash demanded politely once they were put back to normal. "And what's all this manure about you being my _mom_? Dad took pictures of me right after I was born, and you sure as hay weren't in them!"

Rarity looked around at her shop. "The floors have even been cleaned. I don't know whether to be amazed or embarrassed," she mumbled to herself. "Princess Celestia cleaned my kitchen floors."

With Rarity out of commission, Twilight filled in the mare's usual role. "Rainbow Dash! Manners!"

"Then shouldn't _you_ be calling her Princess Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked Twilight.

"I'm not a princess!"

"Yes you are," Twilight, Shining Armor, and Celestia corrected her at the same time. Then the latter continued to add, "and no Rainbow Dash, you are not my daughter. You're actually my great-great-great…I'm not going to say all those. You're my 50th great-granddaughter."

The entire room went deathly silent at the declaration. All the little ponies just gaped openmouthed at Celestia's news, then they looked back and forth between Celestia and Rainbow Dash.

"What?" the rainbow alicorn finally mumbled. "But…_how_?"

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. "What? I gotta tell you too?" she asked. "Okay, once upon a really, _really_ long time ago in a kingdom that we're standing in now. Princess Celestia had this _really _itchy itch that needed a special kind of scratching."

"PINKIE!" Twilight shrieked. "You do _not_ talk about that-gah! I don't even know where to begin with how wrong that is!"

Celestia chuckled. "It's quite alright Twilight. But I think I'll tell the story, if you don't mind Ms Pie."

"Does your story have zombies?" she asked.

"Um…no," Celestia told her. "But I'd still like to tell it all the same."

"Weeeeelllllllll okay," Pinkie agreed. "But mine woulda been better. It has zombies."

With that, Celestia cleared her throat and began. "Before Discord and Nightmare Moon, during the first hundred years of our life, Luna and myself had no idea we were to live as long as we have. We were simply born into this world, the children of the rulers of the unicorn tribe."

Twilight frowned in confusion, then raised her hoof. "Wait…I thought you and Luna were born _after_ the three tribes united."

"We were," Celestia told her with a nod of her head. "But just because the three tribes had agreed to unite and settle in Equestria, it did not mean that all tribes were considered equal. Earth ponies still toiled in the fields, and pegasi still served as a military force while the unicorns still used their control of the sun and the moon to lord over everything. If anything, the pegasi had been reduced in status from when the three tribes were separated as they served as weather farmers and were required to live on the ground with the other ponies."

"Say what?" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Why the hay did you make pegasi live on the ground?"

The question made Celestia shake her head. "You misunderstand, I was alive at this time, but I did not _rule_. I was a simple filly living in my parents castle with Luna and my elder sister."

"ELDER SISTER?" most of the ponies in the room shouted.

"You had a…but…there's no…there's _another _royal alicorn sister?" Twilight sputtered.

Celestia sadly hunger her head, then shook it. "No. My elder sister Andromeda was a unicorn. Although, perhaps that is not giving her enough credit. She was the most powerful unicorn of hr time, the most powerful in generations in fact. Perhaps even approaching Twilight in raw power." Then the goddess closed in on herself. "My poor sister, why couldn't that have been enough?" she whispered.

"But…how would your older sister be born a unicorn while both you and Princess Luna be born alicorns?"

"Well you see Twilight, when a unicorn king and a unicorn queen get together-"

"Don't even start Pinkie," she warned.

"It probably has to do with the circumstances of our birth," Celestia mumbled just loud enough to hear. "Andromeda was conceived before the royal family moved into the castle above The-well, that's not important."

She cleared her throat and got back on track. "The point is, the three tribes were hardly equal. Then I was born, a creature with traits of all three races. And for obvious reasons, everything changed."

The ponies at the table shared a confused look. This time, it was Rarity who spoke up. "What reasons?"

"Right…I keep forgetting Luna and I managed to eliminate racism twelve hundred years ago," Celestia mumbled to herself. It had been a gradual process, but Celestia's long term plan paid off in the end. She hated to think what might have happened if they had gone with Luna's 'mind control a generation' solution.

"Race what?" Applejack asked.

"I think I know the kind of race she's talking about," Rainbow Dash told her. "It's when ponies tie their back legs together and-"

"Racism is the idea of a pony tribe being more important than the others based on nothing but birth," Celestia explained dryly. "The most extreme cases didn't even take the different abilities of the tribes into account."

Twilight scrunched up her face. "Well that's stupid. Sure, each different type of pony has a natural inclination towards certain things when it comes to our jobs, but we're all ponies. And so what if Rainbow can-"

"Pretty much do all our jobs now?" Applejack asked.

"Okay, bad example," Twilight admitted. ""So what if Pinkie can't teleport-"

"Then how'd she get inside my shield?"

Twilight banged her head on the table and didn't bother looking up. "Just continue with the back-story."

"Anyway," Celestia said between snickers. "At the time, nearly all the unicorns and many of the other tribes had come to believe that unicorns were superior to the other tribes. This mostly stems for the fact that after a central government was formed and a generation of studies conduced on the different types of magic among the tribes allowed unicorns to make spells to move the clouds and grow plants. These spells in turn negated the pegasi's and earth ponies' greatest contributions to Equestrian society. So, while the unicorns could do without the other two tribes, the unicorn's council of thirteen were needed to raise the sun and the moon. Put simply, unicorns were better because they had horns.

"Then I was born, a horned pony with the wings of a pegasus, and as we eventually came to learn, the strength of an earth pony. After the accusations of infidelity were answered with a paternity spell, my mother forbade them from declaring me some type of mutation and tossing me out the nearest window, then came the questions of if I would ever be a…_useful_ winged-unicorn."

Rarity frowned. "Why? Certainly your wings could have been nothing but an asset."

Celestia nodded at the question. "At the time, many of the scholars thought my magic would be divided between the three aspects of my race. I would be the weakest of unicorns. This would have been a shameful mark to my family with Andromeda being the strongest unicorn in several years, and the fact back then a unicorn's level of magical power was what gave them status thanks to the existence of the council."

The thought of everyone actually considering Celestia weak made Twilight giggle. "But it was fun when you showed them wrong."

Once again, sorrow filled Celestia's voice as she regarded her student. "No, it was one of the worst days of my life."

* * *

-Well over 1,000 years ago- (with modern Equestrian translation added in)

Celestia skipped down the castle's hallway as she hummed a song to herself. It was still supposed to be a secret, but she heard Mommy and Daddy talking to the royal alchemist about the new child on the way. She was going to have a new sister soon!

Well, she hoped it was a sister, but Celestia supposed that a brother would be okay too. Either way, Celestia promised herself she would play with her new sibling every day. They could dress up, and have tea parties, and play dollies, and fly together… _Oh please have wings too little sister_.

But even if she didn't, Celestia would still play with her like she was always asking to play with Andromeda…who never wanted to do anything fun.

"HOW DARE YOU BRING ME THIS YOU LOUSY DIRT CLOPPER!" Andromeda's voice echoed through to the hallways a second before Celestia heard a metal tray strike stone and clatter to the ground. A second later, Celestia stuck her head in the room

"B-But Princess, you asked for snozberries," the earth pony servant stuttered as he cowered from the princess's wrath.

Celestia watched in confusion as the pink unicorn with the golden mane and cutie mark that looked like a pentagram stood over the dark gray earth pony with her horn surrounded by a blue glow. With a tiara upon her head, Andromeda was in all her regal glory, positioned over the meek servant.

"But sister, you like snozberries," she pointed out.

On the far side of the room, Andromeda looked back at her sister with a barely hidden sneer. "I ordered _you _not to call me that," the princess said.

Celestia giggled and trotted into the room. Andromeda never used her name in private, it was always 'you' or 'child' and 'moo-tation'. The last one always made the filly smile. It was her secret nickname that only her sister called her when they were alone.

With Celestia around, Andromeda abandoned her torment of the servant and motioned for him to run away with an inclination of her head. Once they were alone, the turned to her younger sister and frowned. "What do you want mutation?"

"Let's go flying!" Celestia said.

In response, Andromeda rolled her eyes. "I have no wish to share a sky chariot with you."

"No, just us," Celestia corrected her sister as she flapped her wings and held a hovering position. "Come on, I'll carry you. It'll be fun!"

Andromeda looked the young filly up and down with an apprehensive eye. "You may be freakishly large for a six-year-old, but there is no possible way you could support my weight even if I desired to accompany you."

To Celestia, the solution was simple. "I'll use my horn," she said before a golden glow enveloped Andromeda.

"Bah you ignoramus of a child," the unicorn grumbled before she tilted her head as if to focus the magic of her horn. A blue glow surrounded her horn and…her legs began to kick as she was lifted into the air by her little sister's magic.

Andromeda's face became one of deep concentration, then strain, and slowly gave way to fear as Celestia brought her big sister closer without even noticing the older unicorn's struggles. By the time Celestia had walked over to the rooms window, Andromeda had taken on a panic as she kicked wildly in a futile attempt to escape the powers of the young goddess.

"C-Celestia stop this!"

The young filly ignored her sister's begging and opened the window. "It'll be fun, I promise!"

"No Celestia please, put me-"

"Weeeeeeee!" the filly shouted as she jumped out the window with her sister in tow.

* * *

-Present Day-

"I flew two circuits around the castle while carrying my big sister, with her fighting me all the way and me completely oblivious to her struggling," Celestia continued. "By the time we returned, everyone in the castle and the village surrounding it had seen the humiliating sight of my sister being manhandled by a being fifteen years her junior. Nopony else except my parents found out it hadn't been at Andromeda's request, the townsponies thought it was simply two sisters having some fun. And even after that, I didn't learn that I was so much more powerful than my big sister until several year later.

"Still, the damage was done. Andromeda was terrified of me, and when Luna was born, she became even worse. She thought we were going to take her future throne away from her…that we were going to completely destroy pony society thanks to our wings and magical strength."

Celestia took a deep breath and shook her head. "And ironically, thanks to her…that's exactly what we did."

The statement had Twilight trying to come up with an explanation. "But…how? I don't understand. Okay, so unicorns thought they were better than everypony else, and all the unicorns thought you were part pegasus. But if your parents and sister where unicorns, then why would they think you would turn against your family?"

"Two reasons," she said. "The first was that I just didn't understand their ideas about automatic superiority of unicorns. Although unicorns had developed spells to grow crops quickly and control the weather, they still couldn't fly like a pegasus, and quick-grown food never tasted right. Added to that was my love of flight, and my young mind just couldn't wrap my head around it.

"The second came later when I was old enough to take an interest in stallions. He was Morning Mist…the pegasus I fell in love with," Celestia explained before a wistful smile spread across her face. "He was a weatherpony who specialized in light morning showers. He was gentle, and kind, and funny…and he had a way of looking at the world that made it seem _so beautiful_. He didn't care about tribe or social status. He would greet everypony he met with a smile and an open mind."

As Celestia's eyes began to water, Rarity levitated a tissue over to Celestia, who took it with her magic and wiped her tears away. "Thank you," Celestia said as the purple haired unicorn inclined her head and Celestia continued her story. "After a month of morning meetings in secret, I knew mother and father would never agree to our relationship. So I followed Morning to an earth pony chapel where my sister and our handmaidens acted as witnesses to our union. All three tribes were joined under that roof. Then, Luna and I bid our maids farewell, and we went to live our lives in secret."

"You just ran away?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia smiled and nodded. "I was twenty five at the time. I had grown old enough to see the darkness in my home, and fully taken my power as an alicorn. By myself, I was more powerful than my parents, my sister, and all the council combined. With Luna, no one could hope to touch us. And by leaving, Andromeda would hold onto her throne. It was the best solution to all the ponies involved."

Twilight frowned at the missing piece of the puzzle. "But you eventually took over the country. What happened?"

"The same thing that happens to all wives Twilight," Celestia replied. "I became pregnant. And that scared my big sister more than I ever could. She found out, and decided to end the threat that was my bloodline to secure her own child's claim to the throne."

"But that makes even less sense!" Applejack exclaimed. "You woulda had yer hooves full with yer foal."

"Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "And a little filly would have you and your husband too busy to take over a kingdom, even with Princess Luna for a babysitter."

The purple unicorn gasped. "She thought you were going to have an alicorn child." Celestia smiled at her student and nodded for her to continue. "But it obviously wasn't or we would have known about her. I'm guessing since Rainbow Dash is your great-granddaughter by several generations, then it stands to reason that your original foal was also a pegasus like the father. But even if your child was a pegasus, if alicorn pregnancies are anything like unicorn pregnancies, then you couldn't of used your magic during the final month!"

"Actually Twi, it's that way with all ponies," AJ corrected her. "Unicorns just have the most showy magic so its easier to notice."

"And that's why all pegasi spend their last month on the ground," Rainbow added. "The clouds-walking magic we have tends to give out at the worst possible times."

Celestia nodded. "In my last month of carrying, Andromeda staged a plot to overpower and slay both me and my child before my lineage could become a threat. She gathered an army and sent them towards the farm the three of us had built for ourselves. But that was just a distraction for her to personally creep in and do the deed. I still don't know if our old handmaidens were working for Andromeda when we learned of the threat, or if they were merely her pawns that alerted us to what was just a distraction. Luna left to deal with the army, and left me alone with Morning Mist."

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

"Whether by chance, or fate, I had the unfortunate circumstance of Andromeda arriving while I was at my most vulnerable; during labor."

* * *

-In Ancient Times-

"Breathe and push Tia, just remember to breathe and push!"

The white goddess did as instructed as she kept her eyes on her husband for support. Only a shade darker than herself, Morning Mist's mane was a deep blue like the ocean. Although fit for a pegasus, he was only half her full height, something he took in stride with an occasional quip about his wife's plot that she could only roll her eyes at.

"I…Tia I think I can see the head! I can see our foal's head!"

Celestia laid her head back down on the custom bed Luna had built for the couple as a wedding present and began another sequence of breathing followed by a push. The pain was agonizing, but it was nothing beside the fact that she would soon be able to greet her child.

"Oh maker her hair, it's so beautiful T-"

The sound of a door slamming open cut Morning Mist off, but Luna's customary greeting did not follow. Celestia started to look up and see if her sister was injured, but a wave of pain interrupted the goddess and kept her head on the blanket.

"You! What are-Urk!"

A voice Celestia hadn't heard in years slithered into her ears. "Ah that's better. I do so hate it when you sky farmers look at your betters with…well, when you look at us at all really."

"Morning? MORNING!" Celestia shrieked.

"It's late afternoon actually," Andromeda's voice corrected her. "And I doubt he can hear you. I drove those daggers rather deep into his eyes. I think there's actually a bump on the other side of his head where they impacted."

The pain in her body was swallowed up by the pain in her heart, and even that quickly gave way to rage. Celestia clenched her teeth and seethed. "Sister? You…I'll make you pay for that!"

A hoof touched Celestia's face, and the visage of her sister filled the goddess's vision. "I rather doubt that! You can't even move, can you?" she asked before a laugh escaped her lips.

"Oh how perfect this is Mutation!" Andromeda exclaimed. "You know, I had all these plans. I was going to let you try and run away and chase you across the fields. I was going to fling you around a bit like you used to do to me, do you remember that Mutation?"

"I only did that once!" Celestia cried. "And I apologized when I learned how it scared you! All my life, I have never done you any harm! Luna and I have both left the palace and abandoned our titles! Why do you persist in this? What true harm have we ever done to you?"

"YOU WERE BORN!" Andromeda screeched. "You and that other freak you call sister! Once you had left the palace, I had poisoned mother to ensure another one of your kind would never draw breath! But that wasn't enough, was it? You had to lay with-with _THIS_!"

Celestia heard the sound of Andromeda's hoof impacting flesh, and winced as her husband's corpse was struck. "And now another one of you…_monsters_ is about to enter the world! How many will you breed? How many more of YOUR KIND WILL YOUR CHILDREN MAKE?" the princess screamed into Celestia's ear.

"But I won't let that happen. I'll secure the future of my Blue Blood and our entire tribe when I will kill your abomination before it leaves the womb!"

And just like that, panic overtook Celestia's mind. "No…not my child! Please, I will do anything you wish. I will swear serve you faithfully for the rest of my days as a scullery maid if you will it. Just please, PLEASE DO NOT HURT MY BABY!"

Andromeda's hoof patted Celestia on her head. "Oh, if only I could believe you. But one day the child would grow up and decide I needed to be dealt with, or you would see an opportunity and strike me down."

"But now that you mention it…the timing of this moment does present itself with an opportunity," Andromeda told the alicorn. "I worried so what our youngest would do once she found your body…but I believe I have a counter for that. I'm not going to kill you Mutation. I'm going to cut off your wings, and your horn. It's obvious that all your magic is going to the monster inside you right now, so I don't have to worry about any…eruptions. Then a quick stab into your gut, a little healing magic and…hmm, I'd better gouge out your eyes while I'm at it to make sure you don't get any more ideas."

Celestia gulped as an image filled her mind. She was alone, mutilated and chained in a tower, while Luna wore a collar around her neck and served as Andromeda's personal slave. "You…you said you can't risk it. You said… If I would one day rise up, you know Luna isn't as gentle as me. She would strike you down in an instant!"

The mocking laugher that came from her older sister made Celestia cringe. "Oh sister we know our youngest hasn't the spirit for such a thing. The way I saw her trot after you when we were younger. That little twit isn't smart enough to see two inches past her own muzzle. She would lick my hooves and call it divine nectar if I were to threaten you."

Another wave of emotional pain washed over Celestia. "Luna!"

Andromeda laughed. "She-"

"Is right outside the door," the dark mare's voice cut through the air.

Andromeda's voice went dead, and Celestia could feel her elder sister's hoof begin to quake with fear. Slowly, her head turned towards the voice. "L-Luna."

The dark goddess stepped through the doorway of small house, and seemed to suck most of the light from the room with her very presence. Her usual joyous greeting held none of its usual mirth, but was flat and as dark. "Hizah dearest sister. Rejoice in my return. Let us crack open a barrel of cider, and I shall regal you with tales of mine conquests, while thou do the same."

"B-But my guards, the army," Andromeda quivered.

"I flung your guards into the horizon before they were alerted to my presence. They should be halfway to the sun by now," Luna told her with a tilted head. "Did you know Tia and I could do that? Travel to the sun? I rather enjoy the moon myself. As for your army…their shield lasted a whole ten seconds before I blew through it and turned them to stone. I was rather impressed."

The princess gulped. "Luna…please listen."

"Yes, _little_ elder sister?" Luna asked as she came all the way into their home, and her eyes fell upon Morning Mist's body laying in the corner. "…brother?"

Then, Luna became enraged.

"You," she seethed at Andromeda.

Celestia's eyes darted around as she felt an impossible build up of mana in the area. The home that she shared with her husband and sister trembled under the weight of a power that threatened to tear the very fabric of reality apart. "Sister-"

"YOU DID THIS!" Luna shouted right as her power erupted. The roof of and their little home was torn away, and Celestia watched as the walls of her home fell apart. "YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! **You killed the only stallion who could make Tia smile brighter than me! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT**!"

Celestia's ears rung from Luna's words. It wasn't simply that her sister was shouting, the mare's very speech was infused with her magic, her presence. She saw the darkness take Andromeda. The mare's mouth was open in a scream, but no sound come out.

Then, right before the darkness could cover her completely, Andromeda was able to say one last thing. "Please…we are family."

"**Then I shall treat you in the same manner that you have treated us**," the dark alicorn said.

"No. Do not kill her Luna." It was soft, barely a whisper, but it was hard all the same.

The darkness froze, and Luna turned to Celestia. "**Tia. Since the day I met him, never have I seen your husband, my brother, do an unkind thing to any stallion, filly or foal. And this MONSTER killed him! Let me take our vengeance upon her. There is no need for you to sully your hooves with the act.**"

"No."

"**WHY**? **For what she has done, for what she was **_**about **_**to do-**"

Celestia didn't allow herself to be effected by the raging tempest of power that swirled around her sister. Despite it's terrifying effect on Luna's voice, eyes and mane, she didn't shy away.

"I do not wish for my child to come into this world surrounded by death," Celestia wept. "Please Lulu…I can't take holding her in much longer. Take me away from here. Take me away from this."

The goddess of the night flung her oldest sister away with a cry of rage, then gathered the one she loved an a protective aura of magic. With Celestia next to her, she regarded Andromeda one last time while their elder sister cowered in the dirt. "**Know that there is no place you can hide from me little unicorn. When you close your eyes tonight, I will be waiting for you.**"

* * *

-One hour later in an inn down the road-

Celestia let out a final cry of pain as she gave one last push, and soon another voice joined her own. A new voice, one that she had never heard before. "Is…is that?"

"Oh she is beautiful sister!" Luna exclaimed. "It is as if she is the sky itself with a rainbow upon her head! Sister look upon your daughter, Look upon my niece!"

The white goddess propped herself up and took in a breath as she took the child in her now returned magic. Then, she frowned at the unexpected oddity. "No horn…she's a…pegasus?"

Luna smiled. "Well it seems she does favor her father in that respect, yes."

"Then it would seem Andromeda was worried for nothing," Celestia mumbled. "Funny. The child was already showing her head. Had she but bothered to look, Andromeda would have seen that there is no threat of our kind replacing all of the pony tribes."

"No, not from this little one. However, _I_ am another story," Luna told her sister.

"Luna-"

"I will not let this go sister!" the dark goddess said through clenched teeth. "She threatened you with slavery and death. She _killed_ Morning Mist. She was even going to kill little…oh sister, a name!"

She looked over to the little filly, then back to Celestia. "Hurry and give my niece a name so that I might give proper introduction!"

"A name?" Celestia asked. "Oh! Oh yes! A name…let's see…"

Celestia looked the child over, and could only think of one to go with her looks. "Hello, my darling little Aurora."

* * *

-Present Day-

"Aww, I was hoping that it would be Rainbow Dash," Pinkie whined.

"Pinkie, how in the hay could Celestia's daughter and Rainbow Dash be the same person?" Applejack asked. "I'll say, it is a might odd that they had the same mane and all-"

Rainbow Dash took a moment to cut in. "Not really, all the firstborn kids in my family have a rainbow mane," she said before looking over to Celestia. "But Princess, what does this have to do with me becoming an alicorn?"

"Oh for crying out loud," Twilight grumbled. "Dash, anypony can become an alicorn if-"

"Twilight manners, the Princess is speaking," Rarity told her.

Celestia sighed as she took hold of her emotions again. "Well, there's not much else to tell in depth."

"No more flashbacks? Awww I was hoping to see the big fight between Luna and all those mean unicorns."

The strange comment had Celestia blinking in confusion, but she managed to regain her bearings faster than the others. "Well, Luna did end up having to do something about the unicorn nobility. Since she had already decimated the royal army, the unicorns tried to stop us the only way they could think of: they dropped the moon on the inn we were staying at."

"…what?" Twilight managed to say. The thought of the unicorns actually doing something like that was just…_nuts_. In a fit of curiosity several months ago, Twilight had actually calculated just how large the moon was. If it had actually fallen on Equestria, then she didn't think there would have been a country left!

"It didn't work of course. Although, they came quite close to actually killing us," Celestia said. "Luna managed to rip control of the moon away from the unicorn council. Then, before they could try the same with the sun, I counterattacked the palace and removed the unicorn council and my family from power. Shortly after that, I took control of the sun myself and bound it to me."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "But…wait. Your cutie mark…you mean to tell me you didn't get your cutie mark till you were _over twenty five_?"

In response, Celestia let out a giggle. "Oh Twilight of course not. I caused the sun to set when I was a filly, and Luna raised the moon that same night. It was just one of those foolish things children do while looking for their special talent. Honestly, I was a little disappointed."

"Disapoi-YOU RAISED THE SUN WHEN YOU WERE TWELVE YEARS OLD!" Twilight shouted. "You did something it took more than a dozen unicorns to do, _BY YOURSELF_! HOW COULD YOU BE DISAPPOINTED?"

Celestia shrugged. "I was twelve. I wanted a flying cutie mark. Magic wasn't really my thing. Or was I into colts by then? It's been awhile. I can't really remember."

Twilight just gaped at the sun goddess and most powerful magical being in the world. "Flying…cutie…mark?"

Since it seemed Twilight had gone catatonic, Rainbow Dash sat a little higher up in her chair and took up the conversation. "So then what happened?"

"Well, Luna and I took over the government and either banished or imprisoned anyone who resisted," Celestia continued. "I replaced the unicorn nobility with a new group of lower ranking unicorns and abolished the laws that forbade pegasi from living in cloud cities and others that said earth ponies had to work as farmers or in some food industry. And I named Aurora my heir to the throne.

"Then…well, remember my explanation about racism?" she asked rhetorically. "Not many unicorns liked the idea that a pegasus was supposed to be next in line for the throne and there was a small string of rebellions that needed to be put down. These were a little harder than when Luna and I took over. Tying ourselves to the celestial bodies, it severely limited the amount of power we could use for other magic.

"It was about the time that we finished consolidating power that I noticed a disturbing fact. Aurora had grown into a full woman, but both Luna and I were still in our prime when we should have been approaching our twilight years."

Rarity nodded in understanding. "You noticed your immortality."

"Yes, as did everypony else," Celestia added. "It helped stop some of the dissatisfaction among the unicorns. There was no need worrying about a pegasus taking the throne if the current rulers were never going to die.

"But I didn't care about that. I all saw was the fact that in just a few short decades, I would have to watch my daughter grow old and die. I couldn't take it. I threw myself into magical research. If I had immortality, then there must have been a way to give it to my children. I scoured the land to find the secret of my own immortality, to find a way to make my daughter an alicorn."

Applejack cringed. "Ah think Ah can see where this is goin."

Celestia ignored the comment and continued on. "After many years of searching the land, I finally discovered the reason for my and my sister's birth. Ironically, it was right under our hooves. From there, I had to learn why it didn't change every child born…or conceived, on castle grounds into an alicorn. After that came several years to try and recreate the process on a fully grown pony, and it was only after three decades of hard work that I finally went to see her."

"It took you thirty years to create the alicorn ascension spell?" Twilight asked.

The question was answered with a shake of Celestia's head. "Longer actually if you add in the searching. By then, Aurora had moved out of the palace. I don't blame her, I had barely talked to her in favor of my research for several years, and life at the castle had been…hard for her."

"How?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, living in a castle must have been super neato!" Pinkie Pie added.

Celestia sighed and shook her head. "Racism, remember? Oh, no one was fighting any wars over it anymore, and no pony would openly decry another based on his or her tribe, but it still existed, especially in the government. Cracking down on it simply made it more covert, and the ponies with irrational hatred in their hearts even more determined to hold onto their beliefs."

"But wasn't your daughter super-duper nice?"

"Yes Pinkie, she was the most loveable pegasus who ever lived," Celestia assured her with a wistful smile that only a mother talking about her daughter could have. "Aurora had something…special about her. She was the best flyer of her generation. The Sonic Rainboom was her invention. But that wasn't what made her special.

"She was amazing in a way that inspired others. Aurora made the impossible possible, and then made everyone think that they could do impossible things too. That is what the nobility hated about her. I could make all the laws I wanted and give every opportunity to pegasi and earth ponies that it allowed, but she gave them hope and the power to believe in themselves.

"But it…it was _more_ than just that. Aurora could…she could change a pony's life with nothing more than a few words. It was like…like she had a touch of destiny about her, one that she could share with everypony she saw."

Twilight smiled in realization. "Dash has it too, doesn't she? Like when I was taking my entrance exam. Her Rainboom is what let me pass."

"Or led me home," AJ added.

"It gave me my inspiration," Rarity said.

"It filled me with such super awesome happiness that I just couldn't contain it all," Pinkie shouted.

"Yeah okay we know all that!" Dash exclaimed. "Wait, is that why I got this thing?" She tapped her horn. "Because I did a Rainboom when I was a kid? That was _years_ ago! Why didn't you show up then?"

Celestia flinched at the accusation. "Yes, about that. It took me a few days to get Twilight settled in. But I left for Cloudsdale at the end of the week to look for you. Of course I kept a genealogical record of my family, so I knew you had been born. But until then, I had no reason to look for you."

"Geee thanks grandma," the other alicorn mumbled. "Don't bother to visit my dad or his mom only cause they were just hardworking weatherponies instead of super stars."

Twilight looked over to Dash and frowned. "Rainbow Dash!"

"You misunderstand," Celestia said. "At first I tried to keep in contact with all my child's children. But…whenever I do, it never ends well for them. I don't know if has to do with some type of curse, or just my lot in life, but before Luna returned, whenever I met with one of my children… Do you remember what happened during the junior flyers competition that I came to watch when you were a filly?"

Rainbow Dash flinched. "Uh…you saw that?"

"Saw what?" AJ asked.

Dash scratched the back of her head nervously. "It's sort of like the young flyers competition, only for little fillies and colts. I was in the middle of my routine and I thought I heard someone call my name. So then I turned my head and…ran strait into a pole at full speed."

Celestia closed in on herself. "I did call out…and teleported down to catch you before you hit the ground when you fell out of the stadium. When I brought you to the doctors, they said you were lucky to be alive. If you had flown into the pole and struck your neck or your face anywhere else, then it would have been the end of you. As it was, you only suffered a broken collar bone that I healed with my magic before leaving you in peace.

"The news frightened me. It was the first time in years I had visited one of my kin, and it nearly ended in your death Rainbow. Whatever curse I am under, it would appear it still keeps me from seeing my family on a whim. To be honest…a part of me even blames myself for the library."

Twilight frowned at the rather large hole in Celestia's logic. "But you've been to Ponyville plenty of times. "You were here just a few weeks ago!"

"For you Twilight," Celestia said. "Not for Rainbow."

When she noticed her descended frown at the news, the goddess immediately tried to placate her. "I do try and help my descendents when I can. I send a job offering through the channels if they're in need of work…or make sure a transfer request is approved. Even when it's to a little out of the way town on the edge of a wild forest."

"Okay so…wait, back the story up a second," Dash said as she raised her hooves. "Before you started talking about your kid, you said you failed to make a spell that turns ponies into alicorns. But I got this horn."

Celestia smirked. "I never said I failed, I just stopped working on it."

"But-"

"I had worked out most of the kinks and was finally ready to use the magic to give my daughter what I thought she needed," the sun goddess explained. "I found her living in a small cottage near what is today Las Pegasus with her family. She was over fifty years old by then, and the sight of her face being older than mind terrified me to death. I flew up to her, babbling about how I had finally found a way to save her from old age.

"Aurora didn't take the news well. She was furious with me for even suggesting it. Like me, she had no desire to stay the same while everyone around her withered and died. While I had squandered the past several years looking for a…_cure_ to death, she had been out living them. She had son, who had a wife with foal on the way. I had been there for my daughter's wedding, but on the day she had come to tell me she was with child I had…I hadn't even bothered to let her in my laboratory because I didn't want to waste time talking about _childish _things.

"So when I offered the spell to her, she asked if it could also giver her children and grandchildren eternal life. But…I couldn't. The spell I had designed was meant to work solely on her, and her alone. I had never even considered making someone else an alicorn. So, like the idiot I was, I didn't talk to her, I didn't try to make up for the decades that I had ignore her needs. I just assured her that I would find a way to do just that as I left.

"Another decade passed. I discovered a method that would work on other ponies besides just Aurora. It was taxing and experimental, but I knew it would at least expand her families lifespan threefold. I hoped that would be enough, and I returned to my daughter's cottage to tell her of my success… I found her gravestone waiting for me out back. The sight of it crushed me. I had finally found a way for us to be together, only to find Aurora was beyond my reach."

The other ponies remained silent while Celestia's eyes misted and she muttered quietly to herself for several minutes. Then, after drying her tears, she took in a deep breath and continued.

The rest of the family wanted nothing to do with me. I might have been the ruler of their land and the progenitor of their line, but I was also the mother who abandoned her daughter out o

"I returned to the castle Luna and I shared, and came out of my bedchambers after several days of mourning. Then, for the first time in a generation, I took a look at my nation. Luna was never one for politics, and in my absence, several things we had worked to undo had started trying to creep their ways back in. The tribes were once again on unfriendly terms, and corruption had found its way into our government.

"For a short time I thought that my spell of ascension was the answer," Celestia said before a pause. "But…I quickly learned that giving everyone a pair of wings and a horn were not a solution to the problems we faced. Besides, such a solution was impossible. In order to give the status of an alicorn, it…takes something from me. And the time it takes to recover is expositional. I could not simply hand it out to everyone like candy.

"So I created a spell that would search for worthy candidates. They had to have been tested and willing to defend their fellow ponies from whatever might threaten them. They had to view our people as one whole, not three separate groups. And finally, they had to have a full understanding of themselves, as well as well as the a full understanding of their connections with others. They would be the ones to lead this world into a new age of enlightenment. But…as any of you who knows your history might surmise, I did not find a single worthy candidate among all my people. Not for many, many centuries."

Celestia, once again wrapped up in her mask of perfect serenity despite the topic she had been discussing a moment ago, watched a Twilight visibly counted off the requirements. Her student mouthed the words 'Nightmare Moon' and 'Discord' during the explanation. "And Cadence faced that witch, so that was how she met the criteria, and nopony thinks any other groups is better than the others, but the last two," she said to herself before her eyes widened at the last one, and she looked over to Dash. "Cadence understood love, but…wait…you're telling me you actually _understand_ all the facets of the magic of friendship?"

"Thank you for sounding so surprised," Rainbow Dash deadpanned before chuckling at herself and lightening up. "But yeah. And it wasn't something that just happened. I mean, I sat down and wrote my letter to Princess Celestia. But, I just wrote about what happened, and what was on my mind and…well, more ideas kept coming and I just didn't stop."

Then Celestia took up the conversation. "Ah, so that was the letter you were mumbling about when we met upon the plane of ascension. I've always found writing things down helps me organize my thoughts."

Rainbow Dash blinked in confusion. "Oh…so, that wasn't a dream? That starry corridor thing?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight nearly yelled as she slammed her hooves down on the table. "You mean you actually wrote down your thoughts up until the moment you ascended?"

"Uh…yeah."

"That…that makes it the single most important document in the history of pony!" Twilight exclaimed with a frantic tone quickly building. "Do you know what this means? With that, we…we could revolutionize our society! We could usher in a new golden age of harmony. Princess, I've got to read that friendship report!"

"I never actually got it," Celestia informed her.

"Then its still at your house?" Twilight asked the rainbow alicorn.

Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah…about that. Remember when I came over to your library this morning and I was talking to Spike?"

All the color drained from Twilight Sparkle's face and her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks. "No…nonononononononono!" she repeated before her body slumped forward and she banged her head on the desk over and over again. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Shining Armor, who had been respectfully silent this whole time while the Princess addressed the Elements, stepped toward to wrap his little sister in a levitation field and stop her from hurting herself. "Twily!"

She turned to her brother, tears running down her face. "It's my fault Shinning. We had something that might have changed the world, and it's my fault it's gone."

"Why're you sayin' that sugarcube?"

Rainbow Dash filled her in. "She thought the horn on my head was fake and tried to pull it off with her magic."

"So _that's _what caused the-" Rarity paused in mid sentence. "But a magical surge from a horn shouldn't have done nearly as much…right, alicorn. Never mind."

"No need to beat yourself up Twilight. The whole thing was an accident. Not your fault" Rainbow told her.

"BUT IT WAS MY FAULT!" Twilight wailed. "I cast that spell on you."

"Again, not your fault, your unicorn float spell-"

"Not that spell! The other one!" Twilight shouted. When everypony's faces showed none of them were following her, the purple unicorn broke free from her brother's grip, dropped to the floor and quickly got back into her spot. She took a deep breath, and began her confession.

"Look…this Mare Do Well plan we-I mean, I had," Twilight said as she paid everything out with her hooves. "I had calculated that even with a charming enchantment cast on the costumes to get everypony's attention, there was still a good chance that Dash would be able to outshine us if something happened. Not to mention the fact that there was no guarantee that there would be any problems that needed heroics to fix. So I cast a spell to…fix that."

Rainbow Dash frowned in confusion as she looked over to her friend. "What?"

Pinkie Raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What spell Twilight?"

"It was a bad luck spell," she explained.

Celestia let everyone in the room mull over the information for a minute. Most of them reacted the same way, with a mixture of confusion, shock, and concern. Rainbow Dash however, just stared at the mare with a blank expression on her face. The princess of the day chuckled and shook her head. "Twilight, there's no such thing as a bad luck spell."

"Yes there is! I learned it from the same book as Want-It-Need-It, and Charm!" Twilight told her. "Okay well, those weren't their real names. But they sound better than _Possession_, _Obsession_, and _Ruination_."

Those names, Celestia recognized. She had seen the effects of the first only a few weeks ago in Ponyville, with _Possession_, a spell that made an object so desirable that a pony would do anything to possess it. At the time, Celestia had just chalked up the event to Twilight's natural genius. It was not the first time she had seen a unicorn 'invent' a spell that had been around for years.

She took a deep breath, and forced herself to stay calm.

The fact Twilight knew their actual names meant that she had actually learned them. She knew their limits and their purposes. Then there was the part where Twilight had knowingly cast _Ruination_ upon one of her friends. That fact made it feel as if Celestia's own heart had been ripped out by her student.

It was just like…

_ No_! Celestia assured herself. _Twilight is not Sunset Shimmer_. Her former student had been demanding, insubordinate, and egotistical in the extreme. She had knowingly practiced dark magic and became obsessed with power.

Twilight was different! _She is brave and kind…although the use of the Ruination is starting to suggest otherwise. _Celestia paused in her thoughts. _I shouldn't have foregone her punishment when I was here last. _

The fact that she had apparently been using the magic to try and teach a lesson, if in a foolish way, helped ease Celestia's mind. But the fact that Twilight had cast the spell in the first place could not be ignored. _The fault lays with me, not her. I avoided even mentioning dark magic to Twilight in our lessons in hopes to avoid introducing her to the temptation_.It was something she needed to set right.

Channeling her magic into her horn, Celestia looked over to Rainbow Dash and examined the curse Twilight had placed upon her.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked in response to the sun goddess's actions.

The words went ignored as Celestia examined her student's handiwork. The spell that surrounded the other alicorn had built itself up to the point the catastrophe that the spell would cumulate in promised to be massive. Judging by its size, Rainbow Dash had already seen the destruction of her reputation, her self-worth, her dreams…and Celestia had a feeling that the calamity that happened earlier today was what destroyed the mare's ultimate achievement. Which meant that the spell was now in its final hours.

_ But…shouldn't the spell have put a stop to Rainbow Dash's ascension then_? Celestia asked herself. There was no way the magic of a curse like _Ruination_ would allow such an achievement for its target. The enormous oddity perplexed her.

Still, she used her magic to wash away the curse surrounding Rainbow Dash, and took a deep breath before addressing the group. "I have taken care of the lingering magic surrounding you Rainbow Dash."

"Umm, thanks?" she asked, obviously not understanding what was going on.

"Shinning Armor," Celestia spoke before looking to the stallion. _Oh no, I…I can not ask him to arrest his sister_.

But then what could be done? Celestia knew Twilight needed to be punished, needed to face consequences for her actions. But she did not, no she just could not bring herself to bring Twilight the pain such harsh actions as imprisonment would cause.

She took in another breath to help her focus. "As Twilight's home has been destroyed, she will be returning with us to Canterlot for…a short while," Celestia lied. At the moment, she was unsure if Twilight would ever be leaving the city again.

"Rain-no, _Princess_ Rainbow Dash, you will accompany us as well," the goddess told her granddaughter. "We will be needing to plan your coronation. Say your goodbyes and collect your things. We will be departing within the hour."

"Say what?"

Celestia let the little ponies work through their surprise as she considered what to do. When it eventually came to Rainbow Dash's reluctance to leave her home, Celestia had to speak. "You are a princess of Equestria now Rainbow Dash, and have responsibilities to be fulfilled."

"I can't just pack up and leave in the middle of the day!" she exclaimed. "Thunderlane just up and ran off this morning and we've only got one pegasus as a backup on the weather team."

"Your body guard returned with me this morning, we met him on the way here," Celestia explained.

"Body guard?" all of the ponies asked.

Celestia sighed and shook her head. "After you freed my sister from Nightmare Moon, I had a royal guard assigned to each of you in case something were to happen. I also informed them not to interfere with your lives, or inform you of their presence."

Then came Twilight Sparkle's reaction to her decision. "P-Princess? I know I shouldn't have done what I did. But…look at what's happened! Rainbow Dash is an alicorn! She would never-okay, she _might _not have ever ascended if I hadn't used those spells."

_ I forgot how good she is at reading when I'm in a bad mood_, the goddess thought to herself. "Yet here we are Twilight. I had thought you had learned that the ends do not justify the means during our time together," Celestia told her sternly. "It would seem you are in need of some remediation."

"Y-You mean, _magic kindergarten_?" Twilight squeaked.

Celestia looked away from her student to hide her smirk. Twilight could think that way all the trip back to Canterlot. Dreading her punishment for more than half an hour would be a nice warm-up for when Celestia did manage to think of something fitting for the little pony.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Separation

"So, that's why I need you to take care of Tank for the next week or so," Rainbow Dash said ass he finished explaining to Fluttershy the events of the past morning.

Fluttershy tried not to stare at the new headwear her friend was sporting as she was taking it all in. "My gosh Rainbow this is all so… I mean, you being a princess now-"

"Don't call me that."

"And related to the Princess."

"Pffft, yeah like, from a bazillion generations ago," Rainbow reminded Fluttershy.

"Well I think it's amazing, and I think you'll make a wonderful princess Rainbow Dash, congratulations!" Fluttershy finished before she jumped on her hind legs to hug her friend.

Then, something else occurred to her. Fluttershy got back down on all fours and gave Dash a worried look. "But…if you're a princess then won't you be living in Canterlot like Princess Celestia?" She didn't want to say goodbye to her best friend.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Please. The last time I went there to watch the Wonderbolts, all I did was run into stuck-up unicorns. I'll show up, get my stupid crown, wave a few times, eat the free food and come home and get back to kicking clouds between stunt practice sessions."

"But…you're a princess, an _alicorn_!" Fluttershy exclaimed in a voice .00001 decibels above her usual volume. "You-you can't just be a weatherpony. I mean…it's just…not…um…"

Rainbow Dash just waved off her concerns. "Yeah well it can't be that important. Some other pegasus became an alicorn more than two decades ago and I've never heard of a Princess Cadence."

"Hmm, well I guess wonder if she's a relative of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" Fluttershy said as she tapped her chin. "She's the Princess's head ambassador you know."

The comment had the blue alicorn smirking. "See, they've already got all the princess-level jobs filled. Twilight even said Cadence worked as her _foalsitter. _I mean come on. There can't be much for alicorn's to do if one of them is stuck babysitting before Princess Luna even came back."

"I suppose you have a point there," Fluttershy replied before she brightened up at the news her oldest friend wasn't leaving her. "Well I guess we really will be seeing each other soon enough. Will Twilight be back by then too?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "No idea. I guess it depends on the time it'll take to build a new library."

"The birds are really going to miss that tree," Fluttershy mumbled in disappointment over its loss. She hadn't cared much for the library portion, but it had made a good place for nesting.

"Well, looks like I'm out of time," Dash muttered to herself as she looked at her friend's clock. "And hey, it's like a ten minute flight from here to Canterlot, so I can swing by even before the weeks up if you need me to."

Fluttershy immediately tried to put her friend as ease. "I'll be okay." She smiled as something came to mind. "I'm more worried about you. It's ten days until Twilight's birthday, so please don't forget."

"Meh. Ten days and we'll be back in Ponyville."

* * *

-Meanwhile, back in Ponyville-

"So we're moving back to Canterlot?"

Twilight shook her head at Spikes question. "Not forever, just until they can get a new library built here. Think of it as a vacation!" She couldn't bare to tell him that their vacation might last until she graduated grade school again.

The rather poor attempt to lighten the mood, look on the bright side of things, and do something with silver lining failed to perk Spike up. "Don't you usually go somewhere _new_ when you go on vacation?" Spike deadpanned before picking his expression up for a moment before dying down again. "Besides, we barely know anypony in Canterlot…which is kind of sad now that I think about it."

"Yeah yeah, poor Twilight the shut-in," the unicorn grumbled as she looked over to one of the larger pieces of her former home that had landed in the center of town. "Just go help the guards see what they can salvage from what's left of the second floor before we leave."

As soon as Spike left, Twilight let out a sigh and dropped the mask. She made her way over to the princess and waited for her to finish addressing the mayor.

"The crown will pay for the damage as well for the reconstruction," the princess assured the mare. "And I'll send someone with experience in these matters to assess the extent of the damage to the local community as soon as I return to Canterlot."

Once the mayor had bowed, Princess Celestia turned and walked away from the woman. Twilight quickly followed on her heels. "Princess," she spoke. "About your sister."

"Oh yes! That reminds me Twilight," Celestia gave Twilight a bright smile before continuing along Twilight at her side. "She still speaks about her time here on Nightmare Night, what was it, four weeks ago? I can't thank you and all your friends enough for what you did for her then. The guards at the castle are even starting to become more at ease around her, and _how_ did you talk her into putting aside the royal-" she looked over and saw Twilight's slight frown. "Oh, you're talking about the other one, aren't you?"

They came to the carriage where Rarity was waiting for Twilight with some luggage she had decided to donate to the purple unicorn since most of her belongings were now ruined. Twilight just hoped that there was an actual casual dress in there along with some other basic necessities.

"Twilight, I've got some things for you since most of your belongings are either buried or…er, crushed," she said as her voice began to trail off a second before she switched to another topic. "Now, I'm going to be headed to Canterlot in a few days-"

"I'll be sure to return everything to you then Rarity," she said, hoping the other unicorn would finish so she could get back on track of trying to discuss lost Equestrian history with Princess Celestia.

"Oh nonono, this are a _gift _Twilight," Rarity insisted as she placed the bags in the chariot. "I was just hoping we could all meet up for lunch and make a day of it."

The idea managed to turn her away from the prospect of discovering lost Equestrian history for a moment as an idea came to her. "That sounds like a great idea Rarity," Twilight said. She knew Rainbow Dash would be happy to see another friendly face. "Oh, you could even stay in the palace! I mean, if that's okay with you Princess?"

Twilight looked over to the large alicorn and gulped when she noticed the slight frown on the face of the goddess. She had known Celestia long enough to tell the slightest of such facial expressions were indicative of an outright scowl. "While Rarity is more than welcome within the castle anytime she wishes it, I would like to remind you the reason _you'll_ be in Canterlot, Twilight."

The excitement that Rarity had managed to build within her quickly shattered, and Twilight's ears wilted as her body slumped. She gulped at the coming humiliation she was to face. "Right."

"Princess, please tell me you aren't actually going to be sending her to a school meant for foals," Rarity mumbled. Then, when Celestia's stare focused on her, Rarity gulped, then stepped forward to help hold her ground. "And, if Twilight is going to receive a punishment, then I should too!"

"Rarity!"

The white unicorn ignored Twilight and continued on. "I made those foalish costumes after all," she said before letting out a snort. "If anything, I'm even worse than her! Several of schoolyard fillies and colts had their parents hire me to make them costumes. Twilight had just been trying to help a friend, if in a rather odd way, but I actually _profited_ from this whole debacle. Much to my shame."

Celestia sighed and shook her head while Rarity's head drooped and her ears pulled back. "Oh very well," she mumbled before looking down at her student. "I _was_ going to let you sweat over it during the ride Twilight, but know you will not be sent to magic kindergarten."

"Really?!"

"That is not to say there will be no punishment!" Celestia told her sternly, killing Twilight's newfound hope before the princess started mumbling to herself. "I just don't know what it will be yet." Celestia was hardly an advocate for imprisonment when he pony in question didn't present a danger to others, but the problems that surrounded Twilight's use of black magic also meant that such an act might not be far off.

With that out of the way, Celestia turned her attention to Rarity. "And if you feel guilty over making money off this…event, then simply donate the money to charity or something. While I suppose some might say your actions make you an accomplice to the crime of Twilight's lesser evil enchantment, I also can't ignore the fact Twilight's friends kept her spells from causing collateral damage to Ponyville."

"Uh Princess…"

"Collateral damage as in loss of life Twilight," she said in irritation while the purple unicorn indicated the sate of her former home, and several roofs it happened to land on as well as the other damage caused by Rainbow's mana burst.

Twilight let out a breath and shivered. Thinking about her spell had almost caused somepony to get hurt made her stomach turn. Celestia was right, she didn't deserve magic kindergarten, she deserved _worse_. She deserved to be locked away in a dark dungeon and only fed moldy bread and water for the rest of her days, while the guards who also ate their lunches outside her cell were allowed the highest quality cakes made by the finest chef just to torture her. She deserved-

"A cupcake!"

The confectionary treat in question nearly made Twilight choke as it was shoved down her throat. After managing to swallow it, Twilight coughed for a few seconds and gave the pastry chef a glare. "Pinkie!"

"You were getting all frowny-downy Twilight, so I _had_ to step in," the pink pony interjected. She pulled out a box of cupcakes from behind her and set them on top of Twilight's luggage. "Here's some sweets for the road. Just a dozen-not a bakers dozen! Just the normal kind of dozen."

Before Twilight could thank her, Pinkie zipped over to Princess Celestia and hoisted herself up to whisper in the large alicorn's ear. "Don't give her thirteen cupcakes, it makes her go _crazy_," she said while her hooves made circling motions around her head to emphasize the point.

Twilight could only groan as the pink pony came back to the ground. "You know Pinkie, there's something really disturbing about _you _calling _me _crazy."

"No, I'm just have a slight bit of schizophrenia, a tiny bit of ADD, a few paranoid delusions, and I seem to be stuck in a constant manic phase of a bipolar disorder thanks to the fact that everyone in town is always happy around me," she explained with a cheerful smile.

The barrage of information made Twilight's legs wobble as she tried to process the fact all _that_ just came from Pinkie Pie. "_W-What_?"

But Pinkie didn't seem to hear, and looked over to her left and up into the sky. "Hey there's Princess Dashie! Dashie, I made 'not really goodbye but so long for now' cupcakes!" the pinky pony shouted before she ran to intercept her friend.

"Sometimes, I worry about her," Rarity mumbled as they all watched Dash take Pinkie's farewell girl and share a quick hug.

"Only sometimes?" Twilight deadpanned.

As soon as Rainbow Dash came over to the group, Rarity said her goodbyes to the new alicorn while Twilight did the same to Shining Armor since he was staying to assist with the cleanup.

Princess Celestia motioned for everypony to board the chariots and ordered them to take off. The newest princess lasted for about five minutes riding with Spike in the chariot a few meters to their left before she ditched her saddlebags in the transport, then took to the sky to fly alongside the chariot Twilight was sharing with Princess Celestia.

"So uh, Princess Celestia, about this whole princess coronation thing, we're only going to be gone a week, right?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Cause I told Fluttershy that, and I don't know if the weatherponies will like being short hoofed for longer than that. I really don't want to hold off my Wonderbolt training longer than that either or I might start falling out of shape."

For some reason Rainbow couldn't understand, Celestia gave Rainbow Dash a raised eyebrow and a look of confusion. "Weatherponies? I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss here granddaughter."

Rainbow flinched. "Can you, uh, not call me that? It's kind of weird."

"Very well Princess Rain-"

"On second though, stick with granddaughter."

Celestia smiled at the decision and got the conversation back on track. "Why do you think we're only going to be in Canterlot a week?"

"Twilight explained the whole alicorn thing to me while you were telling all those guards what to do," Rainbow Dash explained. "I suppose it's cool and all. But I really don't want to be gone longer than that."

She rained an eyebrow at the explanation and looked down to Twilight. "What does she mean by alicorn thing?"

"I told her about what's expected on an enlightened alicorn," Twilight replied, a bit confused by Celestia's hesitant question.

"What exactly did you tell her?"

"Just the stuff Cadence told me when she was my foalsitter," the lavender unicorn said in her own defense. "She said enlightened alicorns serve as examples to the community. They don't have any real political power and responsibilities."

Celestia stifled a groan and moved her eyes back to Rainbow Dash for a moment to give her great-granddaughter a hesitant look, then moved her gaze back down to her fellow passenger. "That was because Cadence was still going to school at the time Twilight," Celestia informed her.

There was also the matter of Cadence's reasoning for wanting to take care of certain foals, but Celestia didn't think that was her information to be giving out. "When her education was complete, she became the head ambassador to the Griffon Empire."

"But…no, that's supposed to be some…Me A-mor-eeee Cadenza princess," Rainbow said weakly. "Twilight said Princess Cadence didn't have some big job in the government."

_ Oh dear_, Celestia thought to herself. She looked over to Rainbow Dash, then back to Twilight.

"Princess Cadence _is_ Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Cadence is just the common name she goes by, like your friend Pinkie Pie," she told Rainbow. "And I'm afraid you may be in Canterlot for a little more than a week. There's a lot more to do than just fit you for a crown."

Rainbow gave Celestia a wary look. "Like what?

"Well, your magic lessons for one," Celestia informed her before her hesitance returned. "There's some other things that we need to decide, but I think we should wait for when we are back in Canterlot."

"Oh…okay," Rainbow dash mumbled. She didn't understand the wait, but didn't see many other options if Princess Celestia wasn't going to volunteer the information. Although, she supposed leaning how to float things around might be nice.

They flew along in silence for another minute, with Rainbow casually speeding up, banking left, then dropping back and banking before speeding up again. She did it about three times before Twilight told her to stop flying circles around the chariot.

A few seconds more, and Twilight's memory kick her. "I almost forgot! Princess, I was wondering if I could ask about your sister. When Rarity and Pinkie showed up I got sidetracked and completely forgot about it. But since we have some time before we get to Canterlot…I was…wondering…" she trailed off when she saw the stern expression on Celestia's face.

"I don't like to talk about her," Celestia told Twilight in a tone that translated the words to: stop asking questions.

Another moment of silence overtook the group, and Rainbow Dash decided she would have to be the one to break it. "So…you are just joking about that magic kindergarten thing, right?"

_ Why does everyone discount that but me_? Twilight asked herself.

"Yes, whatever punishment I do decide for her will fit the crime," Celestia told her evenly.

"No! You can't!" Rainbow pleaded, drawing both ponies undivided attention.

"Rainbow-" Twilight began wearily.

"Granddaughter," Celestia said right on top of Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle broke the law on several separate occasions. She endangered the lives of several ponies, and even believed herself in the right while doing so."

The rainbow alicorn flew in front of Celestia and turned her body around as she tilted up so her wings would push her backwards as they flapped. "Yeah she did something stupid," Rainbow Dash said before she shot Twilight with a little glare to tell the lavender unicorn that she was still miffed about the whole thing. "But nopony really got hurt, and Twilight apologized. You can't just lock her up for something she's never going to do again anyway."

She looked back to Twilight. "You're not going to do that again, right?"

The mare in question shook her head, struck dumb for a moment by the fact that somepony was actually _arguing_ with Princess Celestia!

"Good, then…I pardon you, or whatever," Rainbow Dash said as she waved her hoof like she was knighting Twilight from long range. Then she looked over to Princess Celestia. "I can do that right? Pardon ponies? You know, being a princess and all that."

Celestia's eye twitched at Rainbow Dash's antics. "Not when I'm the one having them brought in, I outrank you," she explain before her voice became harsher. "And I'm hardly going to send her to the dungeons!"

"Well then what's the problem?" Dash demanded harshly.

"Twilight apparently needs to be re-taught a few lessons on patience, restraint, good judgment, and be lectured on the dangers of dark magic," Celestia shot back before looked away from the alicorn and letting out a long sigh. "The former having not been covered enough, and the later not at all. A problem that I intend to correct once we reach Canterlot."

With Celestia's temper calmed down a bit, Twilight was able to find her voice. "Princess, you don't have to worry. I know those spells are dangerous. I'd never use them on another pony."

"I am more worried about the harm they have inflicted upon _you _my student," Celestia told her with a sad expression.

Twilight's train of thought was completely derailed. "Come again?"

"Yeah, I lost you there too," Rainbow chipped in.

Celestia looked back and forth between the two ponies, then towards the city on the mountain. "Well, we have about ten minutes left. So I suppose I can give a brief explanation. Twilight, listen carefully, and Granddaughter, it looks like you'll be having your first lesson on magic today."

"Twilight, explain to Rainbow Dash the basics how magic works."

Twilight blinked, then looked over to her friend. _Well looks like I'll be going through a magic kindergarten class after all. _"Well, magic works by drawing in the energy of the world around us into our bodies. Although all ponies can use magic, unicorns are the only ones that can consciously focus it to create a variety of active effects, in exchange for the passive abilities possessed by the other two kinds."

"And how do you focus that magic?" Celestia asked to guide the lesson along.

"… well, there are several ways," Twilight replied after pausing to think about it.

Celestia nodded. "True. But let's go with the most basic shall we?" she asked. "And I suppose I'll take over from here Twilight.

"At is core, magic runs on emotion and belief," the goddess explained to Rainbow. "No matter how complex or fancy a spell is, a pony's emotions is the driving force. For example, if I were to use my magic as a weapon, its effectiveness would be greatly determined by my desire to injure my opponent. However, as Luna would tell you given half the chance, any offensive spell I were to cast would be meager in power compared to what even most royal guard ponies can do because harming others is so against my nature.

"On the other hoof, if a pony who can use magic is overcome with a great deal of fright and an intense desire to get away from danger, she might find herself able to teleport thanks to the situation when such a spell might normally be outside her ability."

"Think about it in terms of me and Rarity," Twilight added when she saw confusion blossom on Rainbow Dash's face. "Normally, I'm better at magic than her in every way. But, I've seen her when she's making dresses and let me tell you, if I tried to move that many things at once with that amount of precision, I'd have a headache inside ten minutes."

Rainbow cocked her head. "Yeah but isn't that because of her special talent?"

"You mean the special thing about her that she's so passionate about and loves to do so much?" Twilight asked with a smirk. She had read several articles when it came to unicorn cutie marks on whether their magic worked so well because of the cutie mark itself, or because it was just something they were so into.

Then Celestia picked up the conversation. "To use healing magic, a unicorn has to genuinely want their patient to get better, they have to be sympathetic and kind. A pony who has defense magic must believe his shield cannot be broken, they must be steadfast and resolute," she said before her face darkened. "However, black magic is…different.

"Black magic requires emotions such as anger and jealousy, and therein lies the danger. While kindness and resolve must be nurtured, emotions like anger and jealousy can fester inside a pony's heart. The more you draw on them, the worse it gets, and in a very short amount of time emotions like anger turn to hatred."

Rainbow Dash frowned at the explanation. "Yeah…not really buying that Princess," she said. "Twilight cast plenty of those spells, but she's not some dark empress of the apocalypse."

"It was three spells, with one cast several times Rainbow," Twilight grumbled. She could understand where the princess was coming from. In order to use that magic, Twilight had gone to a dark place inside her heart. She had pictured Rainbow failing, focused on her annoyance of the then blue pegasus to get what she wanted. The same with the costumes, and those had been disturbingly easy.

"Oh yeah? Well then why haven't we heard of any super evil pony that went all crazy…with…jealousy and…" Dash slowly stopped talking as something dawned on her. "This happened with Princess Luna, didn't it?"

Sadness crept onto Celestia's face. "Yes, although she is the most extreme case. Her level of power actually gave life to the darkness inside her heart."

Twilight gulped. "Princess Luna uses black magic?"

"You have to understand something Twilight," Celestia said. "Our land wasn't always so peaceful. While I governed the day, Luna had no love for politics and took up the duty to defend Equestria. To do that, she sometimes had to call upon violent magic to drive away threats. By the time we no longer faced danger of invasion from other powers, the seeds that would turn Luna into Nightmare Moon had already been sewn. They took thousands of years to grow, but black magic was the root cause of Nightmare Moon.

"After I banished Nightmare Moon, I went about ensuring another pony would never fall prey to black magic. I made the study of it illegal and had nearly all the copies of dark magic books destroyed, save for the copies I kept in the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives. To make sure I wouldn't be corrupted, I also created the prison of Tartarus to deal with threats in a way that wouldn't damage my soul. I even had to hide the truth of my sister's downfall. I made everyone think her corruption came solely from the fact that she was angry and jealous over being shunned when in fact that was just what the anger of her magic latched onto."

Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. "And a thousand years later, everyone's forgotten about it." However, Twilight found a major hole in Celestia's logic. "But that doesn't mean a pony can't come up with a spell that falls under the classification of dark magic."

"True," Celestia admitted. "But Twilight, when was the last time your heard of a unicorn deliberately killing another pony using magic?"

The question immediately had Twilight running through her rather vast historical knowledge, followed by the information gained from years of arcane study. "Well, never. All the textbooks say that unicorn magic can't be used…that…way," she mumbled towards the end. "But, from what you've just said…that's a lie, isn't it?"

"Emotion _and _belief, remember?" Celestia reminded Twilight with a tiny smile.

Twilight's eyes widened at the implications of her words.

Rainbow Dash on the other hand, wasn't as observant. "Um, somepony want to clue me in here? I kind of lost you girls about five minutes ago."

"Magic work because the pony using it has to want something to happen, and believe they can make it happen," Twilight explained half in awe over the implications, and half excited that she had just learned something about the foundation of all magic in Equestria. "And because unicorns don't think they can really hurt another pony with their magic, they, well…they _can't_!"

She turned to Celestia and tried to contain her excitement. "You lied to all the unicorns for a thousand years, and that made the lie come true! This is…wow…just, wow."

"But its hardly a perfect solution," Celestia said. "The problem is if another unicorn should come across a spell that says otherwise. Like you did Twilight. Luckily for your friends, those were extremely weakened versions because you didn't think they could do any harm."

Rainbow Dash frowned. "Uh, you saw the whole town fighting over a stupid doll, remember? That spell didn't look all that weak to me."

"At full power, that spell would have had ponies killing each other for that stupid doll, then doing all they could to make sure no one else claimed it," Celestia informed Rainbow before her expression darkened and she addressed them both. "Before Twilight used it, the last victim of the spell had been a pony who found a cursed leg band while fishing. He murdered his best friend for it, then ran into the mountain caves so that no one would take his _'precious'_ away from him."

The revelation had both Twilight and Rainbow cringing.

"Twilight?"

"Yes Rainbow?"

"Princess order, you're never casting that spell again."

"I think you mean royal decree…and, yeah."

* * *

-Canterlot Castle-

As soon as they landed at Canterlot Castle, Twilight met up with the chariot carrying Spike and they collected their things while Rainbow put her saddlebags back on before she looked up and around. "Is it me, or does this place look bigger in the daytime?"

A minute later the chariots were being pulled back into the sky and the door opened to admit a pair of white unicorn guards in their trademark golden armor and another unicorn wearing a dark coat that still showed his pocket watch cutie mark with a large mustache covering a good deal of his muzzle. The unicorn in the tights took a look around and then trotted up to Princess Celestia before giving a slight bow of his head. "Princess, where have you been, your return from Ponyville was scheduled _hours_ ago!"

While Princess Celestia spoke with the old pony, Rainbow Dash leaned over to Twilight. "Whose this geezer?"

Twilight groaned at the sight of the old pony. "His name's Kibitz," she mumbled. "He's Princess Celestia's…scheduling manager." Although that was his official title, some pony's referred to the old stallion as _her_ boss. Twilight couldn't remember just how many times her lessons had been interrupted by the old stallion when he came in to drag Celestia to some stupid meeting or other appointment.

"B-but Princess! The day's court has yet to begin, and with so few hours left in the day I still have to reschedule many of your meetings and…and…we might just have to _cancel_ a few!"

"Excellent idea!" Princess Celestia agreed with the pony. "Cancel all my Head of State appointments for the day."

Old stallion Kibitz stood there gaping. "But…it…you haven't broken from your schedule in _twenty years_!"

"Oh, and cancel all my appointments for tomorrow as well, including court," she added as an afterthought.

Kibitz stood there silently for a moment. Then, his body began to shake and he dropped to the floor before curling up into a little ball. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening, it's all a bad dream."

"Guards, take Twilight Sparkle-"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed before she flew over to hover in front of Celestia's face. "You said you weren't throwing Twilight in jail!" The blue alicorn's face was scrunched in anger, and her hooves were also shaking.

Celestia gave Rainbow Dash a warm, yet reassuring smile. "And I have no intention to," she said before looking past the other alicorn. "Now, please take my student to her old tower, where she will remain until lunch, at which time she will escorted to the dinning hall."

"You're still locking her up!"

"Rainbow that's enough!" Twilight shouted. She gave her friend a displeased frown over her actions, then turned back to Princess Celestia. "Sorry, she's-"

Celestia cut in before Twilight could finish. "Protecting her friend. I would expect nothing less from the bearer of Loyalty."

Rainbow still didn't move.

"I'm going to the tower anyway, it's where I lived while I was in the palace," Twilight told her. "And I haven't got anything to do till lunch."

Finally, the pegasus dropped to the ground. "Fine, then I'm coming with you."

"No," Celestia told her firmly. "I need to speak with you privately." When that didn't make her move, she added, "about that raised voice you used earlier today."

Rainbow Dash looked back up to Princess Celestia for a moment, then dropped her head and sighed. "Oh…you saw that?"

"Come along now Granddaughter. And leave your bags, I'll send a servant to collect them," the goddess told the other alicorn before she headed through the doors.

As soon as Rainbow Dash dropped off her stuff and caught up to Celestia, the larger alicorn checked her over with a discerning eye. She could tell the mare was tense, angry and confused, and more than a little bit frightened. The way she had nearly exploded on the flight over, and just now in front of the castle, Celestia could tell she was struggling with a great many emotions.

"How are you feeling Rainbow?" she asked the shorter mare.

Rainbow Dash looked over to Celestia, then back around at the empty hallway before she refocused on the princess and frowned. "How do you think I'm feeling? I woke up a whole different species this morning! Then I scared my friends half to death! What the hay was that anyway? I felt _so angry_ and then everything just got all hurricane-like, and now Twilight's getting taken away from Ponyville, and-"

"Would it help you to know whatever punishment I do decide for Twilight, it will only be beneficial to her?" Celestia asked as she tried to diffuse some of Rainbow's tension.

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow back up at the princess. "You trying to make Twilight's deal one of those, 'you'll thank me later' type of things my mom used to say before she grounded me?"

"Something like that," Celestia assured her. "And as for your…hurricane, that's what happens when an alicorn looses her temper. Our powers are much closer to the surface than a regular unicorn's."

The smaller alicorn looked away form Celestia. Remembering how Rarity had been looking at her during those moments was…painful. Rainbow Dash hung her head in shame at the fact she had frightened her friend like that. The fact she been so wrapped up in herself she hadn't even noticed until it was early over made Rainbow feel even worse. "I scared her so much."

Celestia reached down and picked the mare's head up so their eyes met. "But that was all," she said. "When Luna and I were able to achieve that state, our magic would react to our desires without the need of focus. Petrifaction, transmutation, translocation, I've done all this and more to ponies who were simply in the room with me after I entered a foul mood. All in all, you're lucky she didn't simply burst into flames."

For a moment, the information rolled around in Rainbow Dash's mind, then she glared back at the princess for her accusation for even _suggesting_ something so horrible. "I would never hurt my friends!"

"If you _believe_ that so strongly, then there's no need for you to be so afraid of yourself, is there?" Celestia asked with a smirk.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to argue with the princess again, cause she was in that type of mood, then closed it when she realized what Celestia had just done. "Oh…you're good."

Celestia chuckled at the comment. "Thank you," she said before her face became more serious. "But please try and keep your temper in check from now on Rainbow. I know some things in Canterlot will be aggravating for you…the heavens know I run into at least four a day while another one follows me around all the time with a list of things to do, but I would appreciate not having most of the city's population panicking over a mana storm."

"I'll try," she mumbled. "I don't wanna turn anypony into stone or nothin."

Celestia nodded her head in thanks as they reached the doorway to their destination, and Rainbow Dash spoke up again. "So uh, can I go see Twilight now?"

"No."

"Why not?" Rainbow Dashed whined. "We had our little…family chat thing, and you got me all calmed down. I'm not going to go all super rainbow on anypony, promise!"

"Because you need to see the workings of our government," Celestia informed her, "you are a princess after all. You need to know how your country runs."

The news didn't sit well with the rainbow alicorn. "Yeah…about that. I thought I was just going to learn a few magic tricks. I mean, what the hay am I supposed to do now that I got this thing?" she asked while pointing to her horn.

"That all depends on your deific portfolio," Celestia told her simply.

"My what?"

"We'll discuss it over lunch."

* * *

-Twilight's Tower-

"Ugh, didn't anypony clean this place while we were gone?"

Twilight had to agree with her assistant's displeasure. _Everything_ was covered in dust. Her desk on the far end of the circular room still had the old inkwell that she had left the day she'd gone to supervise the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville months ago, and most of the other things that Twilight hadn't ordered brought over.

"Well Spike, looks like I know what we're going to be doing until lunch," she said.

"Yeah, I'm going to clean the place and you're going to help until you find some book you've only read twice instead of ten times," he deadpanned.

"Spike, don't be silly, I-oh my gosh!" Twilight exclaimed as she noticed a book halfway under her bed. "Look Spike, this is Twinkle Star's study on the life and reproductive habits of celestial beasts!"

The purple dragon rolled his eyes when Twilight just plopped down on the floor and started reading. "Yeah huh. Called it."

Spike's comment made Twilight frown at him. "Hey, I'll have you know I've only read this book _once_!"

"So uh, you do know that Celestia isn't going to be sending you to magic kindergarten, right?" Spike asked as he ran a feather duster over the lowest self of books.

_ And that makes everybody who figured it out before I did, _Twilight told in a huff. However, as his chariot was ahead of hers during the flight over, she doubted he had heard anymore about the dangers of dark magic. "Yes, she hasn't actually decided on a punishment yet though."

"Are you worried?"

Was she?

Twilight sat up and thought about it for a moment. From Celestia's reaction, use of black magic was a pretty big deal. In fact, it was probably the biggest big deal that had happened in the past 500 years!

What kind of punishment would fit that sort of crime?

Banishment? Imprisonment in Tartarus? _Execution_?

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! The princess is going to kill me!"

Spike groaned and shook his head. "Oh come on, stuff like that hasn't happen in over a thousand years."

"That's because Luna wasn't around!" Twilight shouted in a panic. "But now that she's back, she'll execute me! Then Luna will get mad at Celestia because we're friends, the darkness will take over Luan again and she'll turn into Nightmare Moon 2.0 and bring eternal night and nopony will be able to stop her because the element of magic won't have a bearer!"

The speech had Spike rolling his eyes halfway through. Then, he dug through a pile of books and pulled out a pulled one out before handing it to Twilight. "Here, read this."

She blinked and looked down at the hardback. "Cognitive Disorders & You, the Reason Why Everypony Says You're Nuts. Spike! This is that book that says the cure for all my problems is getting married!"

"Actually it said the solution was the stuff that came after getting married," the dragon corrected her.

"…just get back to dusting," Twilight grumbled before tossing the book aside.

* * *

-Canterlot Castle Hallway-

"So that's what you do all day, listen to ponies whine?" Rainbow Dash asked as she followed the larger alicorn into where the food was going to be served and stopped to look around at the hallway as they made their way towards the dinning room.

"Well listening to her subjects concerns is the responsibility of every ruler," Celestia told her granddaughter.

Brought out of her inspection of her surroundings, Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes at the comment. _Okay, some of those things ponies brought up I can understand, _she told herself as she remembered the open court that Celestia finished holding a few minutes ago.

Rainbow Dash's appearance had caused a huge stir, and Celestia had made a short speech about how another pony had joined the ranks of the royalty. She also said there would be a full press conference later in the day to discuss the matter, but told everypony inside her throne room to let the matter rest for the moment as they had come to see her about concerns closer to home. Surprisingly, that seemed to satisfy nearly everypony there, and only a handful asked a few parting questions to Rainbow Dash before the Day Court ended.

As for the activities of the court itself, although it looked like over a hundred ponies came to see the princess, only a handful had any real time to talk to her about anything. A few ponies came looking for permits to open shops in Canterlot had to get her personal approval, a responsibility Rainbow Dash thought could be delegated to another pony like the Cloudsdale Weather Office did with each individual city's weather. Then there was that group of miners who thought Canterlot had some precious gems in the mountain it was attached to, Celestia had turned down their request for funding and mining rights. There was also some kind of land dispute between some farmers who had been related over who got what when their grandparents passed on without a will. Those things Rainbow could more or less understand Celestia needing to solve, even if some of them could be handed off to another pony.

It was the less…sensible disputes that made Rainbow scratch her head. There had been two mares who dragged a stallion they had both been dating at the same time and demanded Celestia make him marry one of them. Another case involved the Ponyville resident Lyra Heartstrings on her weekly visit to Canterlot, who demanded Celestia released the truth about something called humans. There was also this one unicorn who had his mane all twisted about an increase in the number of batponies in Canterlot.

The two mares fighting over the stallion got escorted out of court for wasting everypony's time. The refusal of Lyra's proposal was met with an insistence that she would be back next week, followed by a short conversation with Dash about what Bon-Bon had been up to recently. The unicorn who had a problem about the batponies was told to bring the matter up with Luna, and then he got extremely pale before saying it wouldn't be a problem and taking off like his tail was on fire.

"Yeah but…seems to me some of those things the ponies were yakking about were just a waste of time," Rainbow Dash grumbled.

Celestia chuckled. "Perhaps some were a bit foolish, but hearing them and letting my subjects see me holding court wasn't," she replied as they made it to the dinning hall. "Ah, we're here."

The white alicorn's horn lit up with a golden glow, and the double doors opened to admit the royal pair.

"Announcing Princess Celestia!" an earth pony guard next to the doors said in a loud voice that was just a tiny bit short of a shout. "Ruler of Equestria! Bringer of the Sun! Conqueror of Discord! Defender of Harmony! She who did unite the tribes under her divine wings and guides us towards a brighter tomorrow!"

After the weirdo fell silent, Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side at the pony standing next to her. "Uh, what're you doing?"

"Oh, right," he said before clearing his throat and taking in another deep breath, "and Princess Rainbow Dash! Uh…also, sort of ruler of Equestria? And um…she of the rainbow hair who…yeah sorry, I haven't gotten the memo with all your titles and stuff."

"What? No, wait, I don't care," Rainbow Dash mumbled before going back to her previous question. "What the buck are you doing?"

The guard's nervous look at Rainbow's displeasure turned to confusion. "I'm announcing you highness."

As Celestia giggled at Rainbow Dash's confusion, she looked around the chamber. The dinging hall looked a lot like the court to the rainbow-haired mare. In other words, the ceiling was too high, the windows were too decorative, and the table looked as if could fit about two hundred ponies if they squeezed together; in short, it was too big and gaudy for her tastes.

There was also the other thing Rainbow noticed. "There's nopony here! Why is there a guy just standing here yelling stuff when-"

Rainbow's rant to nopony in particular was cut off when the door on the far end of the dinning room opened and the loud guard pony started up again when they saw who was coming into the room. "Announcing Twilight Sparkle! Personal student of Princess Celestia! Trusted Keeper of Knowledge!"

"Trusted Keeper of Knowledge?" Rainbow Dash asked the older alicorn with laden eyes that told Celestia what she thought of the thing.

The other alicorn raised her shoulder. "She _is_ a librarian now. I thought her profile needed an update."

_ And how come my intro was so lame_? Rainbow Dash asked herself. _Then again, if it did reflect my awesomeness, it would probably take me thirty minutes to get into a room_ _around here_. The fact that actually being a little humble might just serve a purpose made Rainbow's hackles rise since it brought up the events of the day before. Still, those memories were quickly tempered by everyone's actions from earlier in the day.

_ How long does this forgiveness stuff take to make my gut stop feeling twisted every time I think of them_? Rainbow asked herself before she and Twilight met up on opposite sides of the table and took their seats near the end where Celestia sat.

The appearance of the purple unicorn combined with the reminder from just a moment earlier made Rainbow frown. As much a she tried to stop herself, the blue alicorn couldn't help but bring her thoughts towards Twilight's actions of the previous week. She also couldn't help but wonder just how far Twilight would have been willing to take that stupid spell. Rainbow had lost her fans, becoming a laughing stock, nearly…

_ Okay that's enough_, Rainbow told herself. She had made up her mind to forgive her friends for that stuff before they even apologized for it. The fact that they had…

_ But they didn't really apologize, did they_? Dash's less than forgiving side asked. They had said they were sorry about not trusting her friendship, but not for their actions that came from it or the pain it caused her. Then there was Twilight's 'bad luck' spell. Rainbow had only found out about that after everyone had their make-up session. So, did it really count?

Twilight and Rainbow shared a look, the hesitant look on the unicorn's face told Rainbow she was unsure of how to continue, while the blue alicorn was in the same boat. But Rainbow wasn't about to let Twilight be the one to break the silence. "Hey."

"Hey Rainbow."

…

…

…_GAH! What the hay? We were fine next to each other all morning! What's up with all the hesitation now_?

Was it the curse? Twilight had apologized for that…sorta. She had apologized before Dash had known what she was apologizing for, but still counted. Right?

Was it the fear of another explosion like she'd had at the boutique? Rainbow knew about that stuff now. She knew she couldn't go off the handle like that again. Even if she didn't turn anypony to stone it still… The realization of what she needed to do hit her like a ton of bricks.

"I'm sorry," Rainbow Dash told Twilight, catching the purple unicorn's attention. "I'm sorry about what happened in the boutique. I'm sorry I scared you."

Twilight's eyes widened a bit, then a reassuring smile "It's okay Rainbow. I forgive-"

"Introducing Princess Cadence! First of the Enlightened! Alicorn of Love! Head Ambassador of Equestria! She who speaks with the voice of the sun!"

"Oh for crying out loud," Rainbow grumbled. Although she did make a mental note to see if The Alicorn of Awesomeness was a title she could put on the introduction whenever it came time to make hers.

Rainbow looked around to catch sight of Princess Cadence as she entered the dinning room. The alicorn of love pretty much looked like Rainbow had expected. She was pink, but it was a stylish pink that mixed with a bit of purple around her wings and hair. Like Rainbow, her mane was a multicolored mix of pink, lavender, and a soft yellow. She was also quite a bit taller than the average pony, although still shorter than Luna.

"Oh my gosh, Cadence!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twilight?" Cadence before the purple unicorn teleported across the table and run up to her. "Twilight!"

Then, Rainbow Dash had the opportunity to watch something that had been occurring with disturbing frequency lately. Namely: Twilight just completely going off the deep end. This time she even took somepony else down with her.

"Sunshine sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves," both Twilight and Cadence said before turning around and sticking their flanks in the air. "And do a little shake!"

"…you got to be kidding me," Rainbow mumbled as the two of them broke into laughter and hugged.

Celestia leaned over to Rainbow's ear. "I seem to remember a certain group of fillies at a flight contest having their own little dance not too long ago."

The comment made Rainbow slump in her seat to hide her blush. Not too long ago for Celestia might have been a good decade in Rainbow Dash terms, but she had actually repeated that same chant when she had met _her_ old friend Gilda despite it being so many years later.

After the pink alicorn and Twilight had laughed, shed a few tears at their reunion and hugged for a solid minute. After conversing lik they were the only two mares in the room, they both took places at the banquette table across from Dash, with Twilight sitting closest to Celestia.

Rainbow stared at the other alicorn for a moment, and was studied in return. Cadence was the one to break the stalemate with a tiny smirk. "So you're Rainbow Dash. Twilight's written a lot about you and her other friends," she said before leaning in closer. "Thanks for finally dragging her away from those books. I was afraid she'd spend her whole life with her muzzle buried in them."

The comment made Twilight cry out in protest while Rainbow Dash laughed. "Well, thanks."

"And what do you mean I've written a lot about my friends?" Twilight demanded. "I haven't written you in…well, forever! Are you reading my friendship reports to Princess Celestia?" She supposed that Cadence would have access to them, and being academic in nature they _were _meant to be shared.

Cadence laughed and waved the question away with her hoof. "Oh no! I've read some of those letters you sent to Shiny."

"Shiny?"

"Shining Armor, my brother, the stallion you met this morning?" Twilight half explained, half asked Rainbow Dash. It took a few seconds before the blue alicorn nodded.

"Oh yeah. Gotta say Twilight, I'm still kinda shocked anypony related to you isn't some kind of ultra nerd."

Cadence let out a tiny laugh at the comment when Twilight groaned and slumped forward. As much as she hated to bring up the fact even to herself, Shinning was a little out there on the dweeb scale. He might have been one of the most fit and powerful unicorns around, but he still played those table top RPGs while trying to rationalize them in a way that didn't tarnish his image. _Battle simulations my flank_.

"So Rainbow Dash, tell me about yourself," Cadence asked.

The chance to talk about her favorite subject perked Rainbow Dash's enthusiasm up a bit. "Oh well I'm-"

But then the alicorn cut herself off when she saw Twilight out of the corner of her eye. Despite the way her friends went about it, Rainbow Dash supposed that Twilight and the others might have had a point about her being a braggart. The last thing Rainbow wanted was to be seen as another Trixie by the ponies she cared most about in the world. "I'm…nopony special."

"_WHAT?_"

Twilight' outburst drew everypony's attention. The lavender unicorn stared at Rainbow Dash for a moment. "Are you kidding me?"

"What happened to wanting me to stop being a braggart?" Rainbow Dash accused Twilight, her tone becoming slightly annoyed. "If its so important to you Twilight that you start throwing curses around, then I'll stop!"

The purple unicorn gaped at her friend's response for a few seonds before she managed to recover with a shake of her head. "I never said you should stop…" her mind trained off, unable to complete the thought. Twilight had only wanted Dash to stop being so annoying in her bragging, not give it up completely. If she were to do that, then the mare in front of her might as well not be Rainbow Dash at all!

"I just…" She stopped, once again failing at trying to get a reason for her actions.

"That's exactly what you wanted!" Rainbow Dash accused. "You wanted me to lie about who I am, so it would be easier to get along!"

"What do you mean lie? I've wanted anything from you or any of my friends but the truth!" Twilight replied. It wasn't until the words left her mouth that she realized she had been shouting.

"Give me a break Twilight! We lie to each other all the time! It may not be about facts, but we sure as hay do it about who we are!" Rainbow Dash replied in a huff.

"Fluttershy would barely leave her cottage without us dragging her out to go do something, and we have to walk on eggshells whenever she's around. Applejack has to keep her mouth shut half the time to suppress her million and one 'I told you so's from getting out while the rest of us have to smile and nod whenever she can't. Rarity has to bite her tongue every time she sees my hair, and everypony else has to put up with her whole frou-frou act. Pinkie has to tone it down around everypony she sees and the rest of us have to just roll with her being Pinkie when she can't; and don't try and deny that didn't drive you nuts when _you_ first met her. That it _still_ doesn't make you wonder how she does the stuff she does from time to time. And you, we all have to bend over backwards and plan stuff two weeks in advance if we want to do anything with you at all! Do you have any idea how insulting it is to have to take a backseat to you reading a bucking stack of paper because it's what you scheduled for that day _weeks_ ago? It's like you're telling me a bunch of stupid words scribbled on some pages that will be there tomorrow are more important than your friends of right now!"

Twilight's ears drooped. "I…I had no idea you felt that way."

She looked over to Celestia for a moment to try and ask for some kind of forgiveness or guidance, but didn't wait for a response before breaking eye contact. What could Celestia give her? It was Rainbow who was angry with her, and this time Twilight didn't even really understand why.

The fact she couldn't understand her friend's feelings only made Twilight's mood worse. If friends were supposed to be able to understand one another with minimal explanations, then what did it say about her inability to give meaning to Dash's anger?

Seeing her friend's expression a second before she looked away made Rainbow clench her teeth. _Oh buck…_ "Look, Twilight…" Rainbow tried to think of something to say to make her friend feel better, but her stupid tongue couldn't find the words.

_ Yeah well maybe she needs to hear it after what happened with that stupid curse of hers_, a tiny part of Rainbow Dash's mind spoke up before she crushed it for sounding smug over the sight of Twilight being so sad.

"I'm not hungry anymore. If somepony needs me, I'll... I'll be in my tower."

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof and say something to try and get her to stop, but Twilight was already gone before she could utter the first syllable. With Twilight gone, the words died before they left her throat. She saw Cadence was giving her a well deserved glare while Celestia just looked upset over the whole situation.

_ Stupid! Some Princess of Friendship I am. Applejack isn't the only one who needs to keep her mouth shut sometimes_.


End file.
